Of Skateboards and Xboxes
by Kyrandis
Summary: It all started with an argument, a skateboard falling from the sky, and a death in a video game. And somehow it's all connected. Modern AU. Eventual Riku/Roxas.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello readers! Welcome to my first multichapter fic that I actually intend to complete! (Technically second, but the first was three years old and I deleted it because it sucked).**

**I don't know yet if this will be updated regularly or irregularly. I _do_ know, however, that this is a present for my fantabulous friend, Lunar! So, I hope you like it so far. :D**

**This is a modern AU set in Twilight Town. It might end up being Riku/Roxas, and it might not. Simply put, it was supposed to be Riku/Roxas since before I planned the fic, but now I'm not sure if I can do it.  
Credit for this story idea goes to my awesome sister. She came up with the bulk of the story; I offered a few suggestions and filled in plot holes.**

**Enjoy!**

**EDIT: Typos fixed. Thank you, Lunar. You know I'm a fail self-editor lololol.  
**

* * *

_**Chapter One - Monday**_

Roxas stared blankly at the open textbook sitting open in front of him, frowning in annoyance as the words failed to sink in even as he read them. Somehow, Roxas just knew that he wouldn't be getting an A or B on the test tomorrow like he'd hoped.

"Forget this," he muttered, slamming the book shut frustratedly and stowing it away in his backpack. He could study again before school tomorrow.

Leaning against the countertop, Roxas let out a long, ddawn-out sigh. Business at the ice cream shop where he worked part-time was slow today. Actually, it was almost always slow, except for right after school on hot or warmer days. The fact that the shop offered only one flavor—sea salt—did little to help matters, but Roxas wasn't complaining. A job was a job and, this way, he could do homework with little interruption.

From his position, he had a clear view of the analog clock on the opposite wall, and Roxas delighted in the fact that his work hours were almost over for the day. After all, no one liked working on a Monday on top of going to school.

"Five," he whispered, counting down the last seconds to himself, "four, three, two, one." He hopped down from his stool and picked up his backpack, slinging it over his shoulder. "Hey, Scrooge McDuck!" he called into the back room. "I'm leaving now!"

"Yes, very good," said Scrooge distractedly. The elderly shop owner was always busy trying to invent new flavors of ice cream—though they were all deemed failures in his eyes—and didn't often pay attention to anyone else.

Opening the freezer door, Roxas added, "I'm taking a couple of ice creams if you don't mind." Free ice cream of the sea salt variety. Yet another reason why Roxas loved his job.

"That's fine, that's fine. Do your homework, mind."

"I already did," Roxas replied. Well, it wasn't exactly a lie; he'd completed his work and just needed to study. He grabbed two plastic packets of ice cream and, pausing only to stoop and pick up his skateboard, left the shop.

Roxas dropped his skateboard and hopped on it, riding smoothly down the streets with practiced ease, heading for Station Plaza's clock tower, his favorite place to hang out. Skateboard and ice cream in hand, Roxas hiked up the stairs to the top of the tower, setting down his skateboard and backpack with a sigh of relief—backpacks, particularly those laden with several textbooks, were _heavy—_when he finally reached the top. He sat down, shifting until he got comfortable, legs dangling over the tower's edge, and ripped open the plastic packaging for one of his popsicle-style sea salt ice creams.

"Nothing ends the day like a nice sea salt ice cream!" he said happily to himself.

"I'll say. I hope you're planning on giving me that other one."

Roas turned at the voice, although he didn't need to. Only one other person came up here, and he had recognized the voice immediately. "Oh. It's you."

"And what's _that _supposed to mean?" demanded the spiky-haired redhead.

Roxas grinned. "Nothing. Hey, Axel."

"'Sup? You giving me that ice cream?" Axel asked, sitting beside his friend.

The smile vanished instantly and was replaced by a scowl. "No. Go buy your own."

"Aww, come on, Roxas!"

"You're the one with an actual job," Roxas pointed out with a huff. "Speaking of which, shouldn't you still be working?"

Axel waved his hand dismissively. "Nope, it's all good!"

Roxas raised a dubious eyebrow as he chomped on his ice cream. "You're still on duty as long as you're still in uniform, I say," he replied after a moment.

Axel glanced down at his policeman's uniform and grinned. "But doesn't this make me look dashing and handsome?"

"No," Roxas said flatly, turning away from Axel and wondering, not for the first time, why and how they were best friends. "Your girlfriend won't appreciate you hitting on me," he added as an afterthought.

Axel made a face. "Please don't say nasty things like that. I used to be your freaking _babysitter._"

"Yeah, you're a bit of an old fart," Roxas agreed.

"Not that old," Axel argued, reaching for the unopened ice cream laying beside Roxas. "You're just young."

"You're twenty-eight. That's absolutely ancient," replied Roxas, grabbing the ice cream and holding it out of Axel's reach. "And that is _mine, _thank you very much."

Axel looking briefly around the top of the tower, didn't reply. Instead, he reached over to pick up Roxas's skateboard and said, "I'll drop your pride and joy off the tower if you don't give it to me."

"Two things," Roxas said. "One, though I am very fond of that skateboard, it is not my pride and joy. My future Xbox is, once I can afford it."

"You can just play at my house, you know."

"It's not the same as owning it yourself!" Roxas insisted. "Why do you think I got a job?"

"I don't know, to earn your own living instead of leeching off your parents' funds the rest of your life?" Axel suggested.

Roxas gave him a withering glare. "That was a rhetorical question," he said shortly.

"Whatever. Anyways, you said 'two things.' What's the second?"

"Two, you wouldn't dare to drop that skateboard."

Axel waved said skateboard around over the edge of the tower. "And why not?"

"Because you gave it to me for my birthday," Roxas informed him. "And you even got a custom order to have my name engraved in it."

Axel looked at the top of the skateboard, where Roxas's name was burned into the surface. "Um, yeah," he said. "But that still won't stop me."

"You wouldn't dare," Roxas repeated confidently.

Axel raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to give me that ice cream?"

In answer, Roxas set down the popsicle stick of his (now finished) first ice cream, pulled open the packaging of the second, and took a large bite out of it.

Shrugging, Axel said, "I warned you." He promptly released his grip on the skateboard.

Time seemed to slow as Roxas dropped his second ice cream, gaping in shock. He reached out in vain for his skateboard, out of his reach, and let out a very long, very overdramatic, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Axel whacked his friend upside the head and time resumed passing at its regular speed. "Drama queen. And now look. Neither of us get the ice cream." He scowled at the sea salt ice cream laying wasted on the far-below ground beside the broken skateboard.

"Axel..." Roxas stood up, trembling in rage. "That. Was my skateboard."

"Hey, don't cry over it," Axel said nervously, probably already regretting his impulsive action. "It's just a skateboard."

"I'm not crying, you jerk!" yelled Roxas angrily. "I'm freaking _furious_! That was _my _skateboard and you just dropped it off the clock tower!"

"_You_ didn't give me the ice cream," Axel said accusingly.

"So it's my fault?" asked Roxas shrilly. "I swear, Axel, I am going to _sue _you. I am going to hire Larxene to prosecute you, I am going to bribe Xemnas to deem you guilty, and after all is said and done, I am going to borrow Demyx's Coast Guard boat, take you out into the sea, and _drown_ you!"

"You shouldn't have connections to so many adults," grumbled Axel under his breath. "You're only eighteen."

"And I am going to tell Larxene that you tried to hit on me."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Roxas shrugged. "In case she doesn't want to prosecute her boyfriend, though I don't see why not. But at least I'll have something to piss her off. Now." He pointed down to the far-off ground, still glaring daggers at Axel. "Go and collect the remains of my poor, dear skateboard."

Axel glanced at the ground, then back to Roxas. "Um," he said awkwardly, "I can't."

"What do you mean, you can't?" Roxas demanded. "Axel, I will go into your house. I will steal all of your matches and all your fifteen lighters—"

"Sixteen. I just got a new one yesterday."

"_Whatever. _I will _burn _your _house—_"

"Okay, I get it," said Axel, holding up his hands. "Enough with the threats already. But I really can't get your skateboard, because it's...well, it's gone."

"Gone?" laughed Roxas. "What do you mean, 'gone'? Skateboards don't just up and off, you..." Roxas trailed off as he peered down at the ground, mouth hanging open in shock. All that remained of his skateboard were some small, scattered pieces. He was certain there had been at least two three large chunks left after the fall. "Axel...where did my skateboard go?" he asked, voice dangerously low.

Axel could only shrug his shoulders helplessly. "You're asking me?"

Roxas snorted. "Right. I forgot; you never know anything. Let's go investigate, then, _policeman_."

* * *

Final Fantasy: Crisis Core was fun, but it could also be annoying. Still, all good games had their frustrating parts, Riku knew. He pushed the buttons on his Playstation Portable, grinning to himself as he worked on defeating a particularly difficult boss. As he was about to deal the killing blow, the loud sound of something impacting on the ground made Riku nearly drop his PSP and jump about a foot in the air from where he was sitting on the steps of the Station Plaza.

_What the fudge was that?_ he thought, searching for the source of the noise. It wasn't a hard task; he could see the skateboard the moment he looked up, lying on the ground in several broken pieces.

A noise sounded from his handheld game, and Riku glanced at the screen, groaning. The distraction had caused him to die and lose the battle. Cursing under his breath, Riku wondered what god of video games had deemed him unworthy enough to warrant dropping a skateboard from the sky. Then logic caught up to Riku and it occurred to him that, rather than some unknown deity, a living human had probably been the one to drop it, likely the owner of the skateboard. But from where? Riku looked up. _The top of the clock tower?_

Riku tried to remember if he had seen anyone pass him and enter the building behind him, knowing that it was possible to reach the top of the tower from a flight of stairs located inside. But his attention had been held by the game, and if he had noticed anyone walking past him, it was only a vague memory of footsteps and a faint _whoosh _of air.

Still, _who_ did it didn't quite matter right now. He just knew that _someone_ must have dropped a skateboard off of the clock tower and made Riku die in his game. They also nearly split Riku's skull in the process, but that detail was irrelevant. Regardless, the owner of said skateboard was going to face Riku's wrath. He turned, ready to run up to the top of the tower and find the culprit, when a train whistle sounded. The last train to Sunset Terrace, where Riku lived, had arrived. Which meant that he couldn't bring the perpetrator to justice. Not yet, anyways. He spun around and grabbed the few large pieces of the smashed skateboard as evidence before hurrying to catch the train.

Once he was safely on the train, he looked mournfully at his PSP. _Well, there's my first death on this game file, which means it's time to start over. Again. _As a new Crisis Core game loaded, Riku narrowed his eyes at the remains of the skateboard and frowned. Whoever had done this to him was going to _pay._


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Lunar convinced me to post chapter two today. AREN'T YOU LUCKY.  
I don't know what else to write here. ENJOY. 8D**

* * *

_**Chapter Two - Tuesday**_

Sometimes, Riku wished he lived in Market Street, the main district of Twilight Town, rather than the quaint neighboring district known as Sunset Terrace. The college he attended was located in Market Street, which meant Riku had to get up ridiculously early and take the train there every morning.

But that was neither here nor there. Riku was now on the way home after spending the afternoon cooped up in the library since the school day had ended. He was sitting on a window seat of the train, playing Crisis Core and remembering bitterly the events that had transpired the previous day. Still, Riku had a plan to find the criminal and bring them to justice, otherwise known as beating them up. Riku always had a plan.

After the train pulled up at Sunset Terrace, Riku hurriedly went to his house and dumped his school supplies unceremoniously on his desk. After grabbing the large, jagged pieces of broken skateboard he had taken the previous day, he left his home again and bounded two houses down the road.

Riku breathed a sigh of relief as he saw that the garage door was open, which was a sure sign that his best friend was home. He entered the garage and waved with his free hand.

"Sora!"

Sora, whose head was bent over a pile of homework, looked up from the table at which he was seated. "Hi, Riku!" he called cheerfully. "You're just in time! I need help with this—"

"Later," Riku cut him off curtly. Glancing at the sign taped to Sora's table, which read, 'Sora's Detective Agency,' he asked casually, "How's business going?"

"Absolutely terrible," Sora declared, crossing his arms. "I can't believe no one has any mysteries for me to solve. At this rate, I'll _never _be like my hero and role model—Encyclopedia Brown!"

Riku decided not to tell Sora that Sherlock Holmes could beat Encyclopedia Brown any day. It would just be a waste of breath. "Well, Sora," he said instead, "I just so happen to have a job for you."

Sora leaped to his feet. "Really? Really? Awesome!" He coughed and shook his head. "I mean," he said in what was probably an attempt to sound professional (it wasn't working), "you know the rates. Initial cost of fifty dollars plus twenty more per additional hour on the job."

"We both know I'd never pay that," Riku snorted.

"Then, I'm sorry, but I can't take the job."

His tone was regretful. Riku knew Sora was excited to have a case after so long, but he was also too stubborn to change his ludicrous fees. No matter. Smirking, Riku reached into his pocket and pulled out an old key. Sora's attention was immediately drawn to it.

"However," said Riku, "I do have this key that I found. I really have no use for it. I was thinking of throwing it away..."

"GIMME!" yelled Sora, leaping for it, but falling short as Riku lifted it swiftly above his head and out of reach. "Riku, don't you _dare _throw it away!"

"Will you take the job?" Riku queried, still grinning smugly as Sora attempted to snatch the key from his hand.

"Yes, I will!" Sora promised agitatedly. "The key will cover all the costs!"

"I'm holding that to you," Riku warned, and dropped the key into Sora's waiting hand.

The moment the key hit his palm, Sora calmed down. "So, what's the mystery?" he asked. "I can handle anything you have to throw at me!"

Shaking his head at Sora's strange affixation with keys, Riku said, "I need you to find the owner of this skateboard." He held up the pieces of said board as he spoke.

Tucking the key safely into his pocket, Sora leaned forward and scrutinized the broken pieces. "You want to find the owner of a broken skateboard?" he asked. "Why?"

"Yesterday, while I was at the Station Plaza," Riku explained, "someone dropped their skateboard from the clock tower."

"Oh my God, are you okay?"

"Well, I'm still here and in one piece, aren't I?" Riku asked wryly. "Yes, I'm fine and my skull is still very much intact, thank you for asking. That doesn't really matter right now, though. Do you want to know why I want to find the owner? Do you want to know what happened?"

"What?"

"The idiot who dropped it made me die in my _Crisis Core _game!"

Sora blinked uncomprehendingly. Not being a gamer, he couldn't quite understand the weight of the situation, Riku realized. Well, he'd just have to educate him.

"Is that...bad?" Sora asked hesitantly.

"Yes, it's bad. It's very bad." Riku cast his mind out for some sort of comparison for Sora, then said, "It's like someone startled you into dropping your key collection into a very deep river and you lost the whole thing. _All of it. _You'd have to start collecting again from zero."

Sora's eyes widened. "That's _horrible_," he whispered, looking sickened. "Who would do such a thing?" he asked, voice rising angrily now. "Riku, we have to find the owner of this skateboard right away!"

"Indeed we do," Riku agreed. "And then we need to beat them up."

"Yeah! Right away!" Sora grabbed Riku's wrist and pulled him into his house, hitting the button to close the garage door with his other hand as he went. "Mom, Riku's over to study, don't bother us!" he hollered as he jumped up the stairs three steps at a time, fairly dragging Riku with him as he tried to keep up.

Once they were in Sora's room, Riku yanked his arm free of Sora's grip. "So, what's your plan?" he asked as he dropped the skateboard on the floor. "I trust that you have one?"

"Oh, I have plenty of ideas," Sora assured his friend and he went to his desk and turned on his computer. "Don't worry. First, I think we should ask a certain very smart, very all-knowing person if they know."

"Who?" Riku asked, wondering if some omniscient person who held the answer did exist.

"Google!"

Silence.

"Google," Riku repeated, resisting the urge to seriously hurt Sora. "Google will not know who dropped their skateboard from the clock tower yesterday."

"You never know," Sora replied matter-of-factly. "Google knows lots of things."

Sora logged onto his computer and opened an internet browser. Riku slapped his palm against his forehead when he saw that Google was Sora's homepage.

"It's. Not. Going. To. Work," he ground out irritatedly.

Sora ignored him and typed into the search bar, 'Who dropped their skateboard off of the clock tower?'

The search results loaded, and Riku skimmed the links, though he already knew the idea was doomed for failure. The first result was a link to the Wikipedia on the movie _Back to the Future. _Then there was a YouTube video link, and another page on _Back to the Future. _The remaining results were equally unhelpful.

"Nothing," he announced.

"Don't be so hasty, Riku," chided Sora. "Maybe it's on the next page."

Riku rolled his eyes. "It's not," he muttered. "Trust me."

"Trust _me_," Sora responded.

"Right... Well, we'll see who's right in the end. Meanwhile, I'm going to go use the restroom. Be right back."

Sora's bathroom reeked of air freshener and vinegar. Riku gagged and pulled up the collar of his shirt to cover his mouth and nose. After quickly doing his business, Riku went to the sink and discovered the source of the vinegar stench. On the counter was a bucket filled to the brim with what was no doubt vinegar. Settled at the bottom of the bucket were several old keys. And if the vinegar scent alone wasn't bad enough, Sora had probably sprayed air freshener everywhere, which would account for the overwhelming, sickly sweet scent that mingled with the vinegar. Shaking his head in disgust, Riku turned on the sink and washed his hands.

"Your bathroom stinks," he announced rudely when he reentered Sora's bedroom.

"Did you see my new keys?" Sora asked, completely disregarding his friend's statement. "Pretty cool, huh? I have to soak them in vinegar to clean them up."

"It smells horrible."

Sora shrugged. "My mom told me to get rid of the smell, so I sprayed some air freshener in there. Do you think I should have sprayed more?"

"No!" said Riku hastily. "Just leave it. But I don't think you should use so much vinegar next time. It's only a few keys."

"Hmm, I guess you're right. Maybe I'll only fill half of the bucket."

"Less than even a fourth would suffice," Riku mumbled.

Sora frowned. "Really? Maybe I'll Google it."

Riku groaned.

"Anyways, I couldn't find the answer to our mystery on Google, so I guess you were right," Sora went on.

"Told you so."

"Oh, be quiet. I have a much better idea now."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, really."

"Do enlighten me."

Sora held up a...something...and proudly showed it to Riku.

"Um. What is it?" Riku asked.

Sora winked at him. "It's my fingerprint dusting kit!"

Riku stared. He exhaled loudly, then drew in another breath and exploded, "THAT WON'T WORK EITHER!"

"And why not?" asked Sora. He snatched up the largest piece of the skateboard's remains and opened up his kit. While he dusted for fingerprints, Riku went to bang his head against the wall.

"I got some prints!" Sora said excitedly after a few minutes. "There are at least two sets of fingerprints here!"

"That's nice," Riku said, voice dripping with unconcealed sarcasm. "And how do you plan to figure out who the owner is using that knowledge? You can't very well ask everyone in Twilight Town if we can see their fingerprints."

"No," Sora agreed thoughtfully. "But we _can _start with everyone we know. Liiike, you!"

"What? Of course I didn't do it!" snorted Riku, shoving his hands roughly into his pockets. "Why would I make myself lose my own game? I'm not letting you take my fingerprint. It's a stupid idea anyways."

"You're acting very suspicious!" Sora said in a singsong voice.

"It's not going to work anyways."

"Come _on_!"

"Ergh, fine." Riku rolled his eyes and held out his hand. As Sora gleefully pressed Riku's thumb against an ink pad—which had probably come with his fingerprint dusting kit—and then onto a piece of paper, he added, "But I hope you know that—"

"There's a match!" Sora exclaimed. "Riku, your fingerprints are on this skateboard!"

Riku groaned inwardly. He'd been expecting this, which was why he was reluctant to let Sora take his fingerprint in the first place. "Well, _obviously_ that's because—"

"Because you set the whole thing up!" Sora declared, pointing accusingly at Riku.

"No, no I did _not _set the whole thing up," Riku growled. "Why would I do that?"

"You wanted to sue," explained Sora, sounding very sure of himself. "You set it up to frame someone and sue them for making you lose your game."

"..."

"I'm right, aren't I? You're quiet because you're stunned at my excellent deduction, aren't you?"

"That is _the _most ridiculous thing I have _ever_ heard."

"But it's true, isn't it?" gloated Sora. "I was right! You thought I'd think it was whoever you're trying to frame, but you didn't count on me dusting for fingerprints!"

"Who would sue someone over a dying in a video game?" Riku fairly screeched. "And my fingerprints are on it because I _picked it up_ you idiot!"

The words seemed to take a moment to sink in.

"...Oh," Sora said after a moment. "Why didn't you say so sooner?"

"I tried to tell you," ground out Riku through clenched teeth. "But you were being tunnel vision stubborn, as usual."

"Sorry." Sora grinned sheepishly. "I guess the other set of prints is the owner? How will we find them?"

"We _can't_, and therein lies the problem."

"Oh."

Riku crossed his arms impatiently. "Now what?" he asked sourly.

"Now we..." Sora hesitated briefly, then his face broke into a wide grin and Riku sorely regretted asking his question.

"Now we should ask Cha-Cha!"

Riku closed his eyes and willed for the patience to tolerate his friend. "How long do I have to put up with your ridiculous ideas before we finally make some progress?"

Sora didn't answer but, personally, Riku would put his money on two days.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Here's the last chapter I'd already written in advance. Chapter four has yet to be completed, so after this please expect irregular updates. This is also the longest chapter thus far. Enjoy~**

* * *

_**Chapter Three - Thursday**_

"So, I heard you're working here full-time now."

"Go away, Axel." Roxas purposefully avoided his friend's gaze as he stared down at his homework. "Nobody likes you."

"You're mean." Axel pouted.

Scowling, Roxas said, "Well, you don't have much reason to be liked right now."

"Hey, I apologized, didn't I? Didn't I?"

"That's not enough for me," said Roxas shortly.

"Hmph. Stubborn."

Roxas didn't answer. Instead, he said, "Are you gonna buy an ice cream or not?"

"Yeah, sure." Axel dropped a few bills on top of Roxas's papers. "The usual, of course."

Roxas accepted the money and walked to the freezer. He tossed a wrapped popsicle to his friend, still refusing to meet his eyes.

If Axel noticed the obvious avoidance, he made no comment on it. Instead, he caught the ice cream and ripped open the package. "Why are you working full-time, anyways? Want that Xbox sooner? Buying a new skateboard?"

"Neither." Sitting back down, Roxas looked at Axel now and glared at him. "I need to find whoever stole my skateboard and beat him up. I know a detective who'll be able to find the thief, but I can't afford to pay his rates right now."

"Who's the detective?"

"My cousin, Sora," Roxas replied. "He's the same age as me, and he lives in Sunset Terrace."

"I see. But if he's your cousin, why do you have to pay?" queried Axel. "Why don't you just, you know, use your cousinly influence?"

Roxas clenched his hands into fists. "Because," he growled, "my stupid cousin knows how to hold a _grudge_."

"Heh, really?" Axel grinned. "What'd you do?"

Looking at him disdainfully, Roxas tried to decide whether or not Axel deserved to know. He shrugged, as if he didn't really care, then muttered in a tone that indicated that he _did_, "Just after I started working here, Sora asked me for a free ice cream because I get to have free ice cream, and I wouldn't give it to him until he paid. He hasn't done anything for me without a cost since."

Axel appeared to be greatly amused by this new knowledge. "Seriously? He won't help you because you didn't give him free ice cream?" He was nearly laughing as he spoke.

"I don't see why you find that so hard to believe. _You _dropped my skateboard off the clock tower because I didn't give you free ice cream!" Roxas pointed out. "It happened months ago, but he still won't even help me with stuff like homework without charging me." He sighed. "I stopped talking to him for a while, but he's the only one I know who can help me with something like this."

"Why don't you ask him again?" Axel suggested. "I'm sure he'll help you."

Roxas shook his head. "He won't, trust me. You haven't met the guy. I think he must have tunnel vision or something."

"Sounds a bit like you. It must run in the family," mused Axel.

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

Axel shrugged. "I'm just saying, do you really need to be so bothered by this? It's just a broken skateboard."

"It's _my _skateboard, and they _stole_ it!" Roxas exclaimed. "Of course I have to find out who took it!"

"Alright, if you want to beat up the thief so bad, then try asking your cousin," challenged Axel. "Or are you too stubborn to apologize and ask for help?"

Roxas glared at him. "Fine, I will ask! And I'll apologize, too!" he shot back, even though it was already damaging his pride to say even that. Standing up and turning so that his back was to Axel, he whipped out his cell phone and dialed Sora's number.

As the phone rang, he tried to figure out what to say. '_Hey, I'm sorry'—geez, why do I have to apologize? 'I'm sorry for not giving you ice cream half a year ago. Will you help me catch a thief please?' Er, maybe that won't work. Um..._

"Hello?"

"Ah—hi, Sora!" said Roxas, fumbling with the phone as he was jolted out of his thoughts.

"Roxas?" came Sora's voice. "What do you want?"

Roxas cringed at the suspicion in his cousin's tone. "I..." Apologizing was so difficult. Roxas decided to try and get the easier part of what he needed to say over with first. "I need your help with something," he said carefully. "And, um..."

"What are you willing to pay?" cut in Sora sharply.

"I can't afford your services," mumbled Roxas. "You know that. But I really need your help with something, and I..." _Just say it, you idiot. _"I'm sssssssorry," he managed to say, just barely, "for...y'know, the ice cream thing."

"Well, I haven't forgiven you yet," Sora informed him.

"Yeah, I know," said Roxas heavily. "But I was hoping you could forget about it for just a bit...help your cousin out?" He paused, then added in a persuasive tone, "I have free ice cream."

"Oh, no, that won't work on me. This isn't about what you can offer now, this about how you didn't give it to me back then!"

Sensing that Sora was going to hang up soon, Roxas tried to say, "But—"

"Nope. I'm not forgiving you for that, Roxas, and I probably never will. This is why you should try having some foresight."

"But I—"

"Goodbye."

_Click._

Roxas stared at his cell phone, dumbfounded.

"I'm...guessing that didn't work out," ventured Axel.

Snapping his cell phone shut, Roxas looked at Axel and raised an eyebrow. "You think?"

"Well, hey, you tried, right? That's what matters."

Roxas sunk down onto his stool and slouched, defeated. "No, it doesn't matter. Even if I did try, I still ended up with nothing."

Axel shifted around almost guiltily for a moment, then said brightly, "Well, maybe I can help, then!"

"How can _you_ help?" Roxas asked skeptically.

"Are you implying that I'm useless?" asked Axel. "I'm a policeman, you know. I can ask around and stuff. But if you don't want me to..."

Roxas hesitated, torn between being the prideful stubborn person he was and apologizing and asking for help. Finally, he relented and replied, "Okay, if you can."

"No apology," grumbled Axel under his breath, just loud enough for Roxas to hear him.

Roxas knew he wouldn't have to apologize out loud, though. Axel was his best friend; they understood each other. "Thanks," he added, knowing that was all he needed to say.

Axel flashed a grin at him. "Hey, what are friends for?"

* * *

"Who was that?" Riku asked curiously as Sora hung up his cell phone and shoved it back into his pocket with a huff. He was surprised at how Sora had spoken to whoever had been on the other end of the phone; he didn't think he'd ever heard his friend speaking so angrily.

Sora snorted derisively. "Just my good-for-nothing cousin," he said dismissively. "It's not important."

Riku decided it would be best not to pry. He'd be lying if he said he was curious, because, really, he didn't care. Let Sora and his cousin deal with their family matters themselves. All that mattered to him right now was finding the owner of the broken skateboard currently in his possession.

As he'd predicted the day he'd requested Sora's help, it took all of Tuesday and Wednesday after school to plow through all of Sora's stupid ideas. None of them worked, and they were no closer to finding out the skateboard's owner. Today, Sora had finally agreed to a more promising (at the very least, more promising than Sora's other ideas) plan: ask around Market Street if anyone knew the skateboard's owner. Riku figured the owner probably lived in Market Street rather than Sunset Terrace for two reasons. Firstly, the skateboard had been dropped in Market Street, even if it was at the train station. Secondly, Sunset Terrace was small, and Riku knew almost everyone who lived there. So, Riku and Sora had taken the train to Market Street, which was where they were now.

"So, who do you want to ask now?" Riku asked.

"Uh...I think Wakka lives near here," suggested Sora.

Riku shrugged. "Lead the way."

Sora led him down the streets, backtracking a few times because he took a wrong turn. After walking circles around the streets for a few minutes, they finally found the right house.

"Hey, man. What's up?" asked Wakka.

"Hey. We just wanted to know if you know the owner of this skateboard." Sora nodded to Riku.

Riku held up the skateboard and Wakka looked at it, furrowing his brows.

"You know that's broken to pieces, right?" he checked.

Riku and Sora nodded.

"It probably can't be fixed."

They nodded again.

Wakka shrugged, apparently not caring about the lack of explanation. "Dunno why you wanna find the owner of a broken skateboard, but whatever. I dunno anyone who owns one anyways. Sorry."

"It's okay. Thanks anyways," said Sora, waving his hand.

As Wakka nodded and closed the door, Riku turned to Sora. "Well, that was a lot of help," he said sarcastically.

"Sorry, sorry. Don't give up yet. Someone still might know!"

"Really?" asked Riku disbelievingly. "Like who? We've asked a ton of people already."

"Uh...there's still Selphie!" Sora nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, Selphie might know the owner! Let's go ask!" Without giving Riku the opportunity to respond, he sped off.

"Why would Selphie know? She only cares about her jump rope and romance novels," griped Riku, but he tromped after his friend anyways.

"See, it's because you reject ideas before you even try them that you never get anywhere. Selphie might be able to give us a lead, and she might not. We won't know until we try," reasoned Sora.

Sora had a point there—not that Riku would say so out loud—but that still didn't justify spending two days going through stupid ideas such as Googling the answer when they obviously wouldn't work.

"Hello!" Selphie greeted the two. "Can I help you?"

"Actually, yes, you can," said Sora. He looked to Riku, who, on cue, held up the broken skateboard pieces. "Do you know the owner of this skateboard?"

Selphie stared at it for a moment, then said, "I have no idea, sorry. All skateboards look the same to me. Have you tried asking Tidus?"

"Oh, that's a good idea!" exclaimed Sora. "C'mon, Riku!"

"Hey, wait," protested Riku as Sora gleefully ran off. He looked at Selphie apologetically. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Selphie smiled. "Sorry I couldn't be of any help."

"That's fine," said Riku, waving before he ran off after Sora. "Wait up, you idiot!"

They arrived at Tidus's house a few minutes later, and Sora was already banging on the door by the time Riku caught up to him.

"I don't know how you have so much energy," grumbled Riku.

Sora grinned hugely. "It's because I have a case to solve! Isn't this fun? Isn't it exciting?"

Riku raised his eyebrows at him but didn't respond, although he was thinking, _No, this is not fun, this is stupid._

The door was opened by Tidus. "Hey, Sora, Riku. What's going on?"

"Nothing, really. We were hoping you could help us, though," said Sora.

"Oh? What's up?"

"Do you know the owner of this skateboard?" Sora jerked a thumb towards said object as he spoke.

Riku lifted the pieces up, rolling his eyes. They hadn't had any success the last dozen people they had asked; why would this time be any different?

Tidus took the largest piece from Riku and looked it over. After a minute, he handed it back. "Well, I don't know who owns it, but..."

"But?" repeated Sora hopefully.

"But I recognize the brand. It's not a professional board or anything," Tidus explained. "You can buy it really cheap pretty much anywhere."

"Which means just about anyone could be the owner," said Riku, discouraged.

"That's right."

Riku groaned. He'd been hoping for a good lead, but they were no better off than before. If anything, they were worse off now.

"Aw, cheer up, Riku!" said Sora. "I know, I'll buy you some ice cream!"

"Ice cream?" echoed Riku. "What does that have anything to do with...anything?"

"Because ice cream is great for cheering people up!" said Sora. "Let's go, let's go! Bye, Tidus!" And he grabbed Riku by the arm and started dragging him down the street.

"Bye!" Tidus called.

"Seriously, Sora," grumbled Riku. "I don't want ice cream."

"But I had an idea," ventured Sora.

"Oh, no," said Riku, pulling his arm free of Sora's grip. "No. Your ideas are stupid."

"But this one is really good!" Sora pouted. "Just hear me out, okay?"

Riku sighed. "Fine. Let's hear it," he replied.

"My cousin—you know, that idiot who called earlier—works at an ice cream shop. I just remembered he has a skateboard, so maybe he knows the owner of this one."

That must have been the best plan Riku had heard from Sora yet, even if it still wasn't guaranteed to have a good result. Except... "Didn't you get mad and hang up on him earlier?" he asked. "What if he won't help you?"

"About that...earlier he called to ask for my help for something. I bet he'll help us if I agree to help him."

"Alright. You know him better than I do, after all," said Riku. "I've never even met the guy. Actually, I didn't even know you had a cousin that lives here."

"He's lived here all his life, whereas we moved from Destiny Islands. After a little...incident about half a year ago, we didn't really talk to each other much, so I never mentioned him," said Sora off-handedly. "He's the same age as me, and goes to the same college as us."

"Really? Interesting." Riku wondered what could possibly have happened to make Sora and his cousin avoid contact for six months, but he decided it might be best not to pry.

It didn't take long to reach the shop, which was a small ice-cream parlor with a sign that said 'Sea-Salt Ice Cream.'

Reading the sign, Riku made a face and asked, "They only have one flavor."

"Yep, but it's really good. Sea salt ice cream is salty, but sweet, too. It tastes great," said Sora, pushing the door open.

"That sounds nasty," muttered Riku.

"Hey, Roxas!" greeted Sora, waving.

The spiky-haired blonde sitting at the counter looked at them and frowned. "Sora," he said, "what are you doing here?"

"Two popsicles, please!" said Sora happily, ignoring the question as he slammed the money down on the counter.

Roxas stared at the money, then reluctantly took it and got them the ice creams. "What are you doing here?" he repeated.

"Oh, well, the thing is... I wanted your help with something, and I was thinking maybe if I helped you out, you could return the favor or something..."

While Sora spoke, Riku tore open his package and stared at the popsicle-style ice cream suspiciously. He took a cautious lick. It tasted...salty. Really, really salty. It was disgusting, and it wasn't sweet at all. He decided to tell Sora that.

"Sora, this ice cream is nasty!" He glared at his friend, but it was Roxas who replied.

"No, it's not! Sea salt ice cream is the best! It's amazing! It's salty, but sweet! I love it!" Roxas glared at him. "Who is this idiot?" he asked Sora.

"Oh, he's my best friend, Riku."

"It doesn't taste sweet at all!" Riku protested, dropping his ice cream into a trash bin.

"NOOOO! That was a perfectly good ice cream you just wasted!" cried Roxas.

Riku rolled his eyes. "Get on with it, Sora. I'm just about ready to leave this place."

"Right, what did you need help with?" asked Roxas. "Depending on your offer, I _might_ help you. _Might_."

"Right, okay. Do you know the owner of this skateboard?"

Riku showed him the pieces, and Roxas's eyes stretched wide.

"That...that's mine!" he exclaimed, pointing at it. He glared at Riku. "So it was _you_ who stole it!"

"So it was _you _who made me lose my game," growled Riku in response.

Roxas opened his mouth, probably to ask what Riku meant, but Sora spoke first. "How can you tell it's yours?"

"It's _mine_," Roxas insisted. "Of course I can tell. My skateboard is special."

Sora remained looking unconvinced. "But Tidus said..."

"Wait, I know!" Roxas interrupted.

He knelt down behind the counter. Riku heard him rummaging around for a moment before he stood up again, holding the end of a broken skateboard. The name "ROXAS" appeared to be burned into it.

"I managed to salvage this among the other small pieces of my skateboard," Roxas explained. "See, this part has my name engraved in it." He took a piece from Riku and held his piece against it. The two jagged ends fit together perfectly. "See!" he repeated.

Riku grinned, his hands curling into fists. "Now that I've found my culprit, I can beat him up," he said. "Sorry it had to be your cousin, Sora."

"Well, from what you've told me, he did something _really_ bad," Sora said. "So, I guess I can forgive you for beating my cousin up."

"What!" cried Roxas. "I did no wrong. It was _him_!"

"Huh? Oh, by the way, what did _you _want help with?" Sora asked.

"I wanted you to help me find out who stole my skateboard," said Roxas, "but it looks like I've found my thief. I have to apologize; it looks like I'm going to be beating up your best friend, Sora."

"Well, now I'm confused. But, okay," said Sora.

"That's enough talk," said Riku impatiently. Before he could attack Roxas, however, the bell on the door jingled as someone stepped in.

"Hey, Rox, I asked around and guess what I found out!"

Riku turned around, and the first thing he saw was a policeman's uniform. _Oh, crap._

"The thief goes to your college, but he's a year older than you. He's friends with your cousin, and his name is—"

"Riku. I know," said Roxas. "If you hadn't noticed, Axel, he's right here." He looked to Riku.

"Really? Then you didn't need my help after all." Axel crossed his arms. "Then, did I just waste me time?"

"Heh, guess so," Riku answered for him. To Roxas, he said, "I didn't know you had a police friend. That's cheating."

"Says the person who used _my _cousin's detective services," Roxas retorted.

"What's with all the hate? From what I heard, these two," Axel nodded at Sora and Riku, "were trying to find out the owner of the skateboard. Aren't they here to return it?"

"No way!" said Riku. "I'm here to beat him up!" Right after he said it, he wondered if perhaps he should have said that to a policeman.

"And I need to beat him up for taking my skateboard!" Roxas added.

"Sounds fun," said Axel. "But I really don't want to arrest you guys, so let's arrange an official rumble, _The Outsiders_-style."

"That was a great book!" Sora chimed in.

"Nobody cares," Riku informed his friend, then looked at Axel. "How do you mean?"

"Saturday, at the Sandlot. Just pretend it's a mock Struggle battle," said Axel. He glanced at Roxas. "How's that?"

"I'll agree to that," said Roxas. "What about you?"

"Fine," said Riku. "Rules and conditions?"

Roxas looked to Axel expectantly, and he said, "Hmm... You can have as many people on your team as you want, but just remember that if there are a lot of people we'll draw unwanted attention. Any weapons must be Struggle-approved."

"You seem to have organized these a lot," said Riku suspiciously. "Are you really a policeman?"

"What? Of course I am," said Axel huffily. "Anyways, we'll meet at noon. Don't worry about a ref; I'll get someone."

Riku nodded in assent. He smirked at Roxas, who was glowering at him. "See you in two days."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: After a slight delay, here's chapter four! I don't like this chapter that much, so I'll try to get chapter five up by this weekend. No promises, though. I hope you enjoy it, anyways~  
(This chapter also broke 4000 words, so it's my longest chapter so far.)  
**

*** Reference to the manga Kuroshitsuji**

* * *

_**Chapter Four – Friday**_

_Ring...ring...ring...ring..._

Disruptions to Riku's gaming were never well-received, and he was indeed reluctant to even answer the phone. But he didn't want to annoy anyone by not picking up the stupid thing (especially if they needed to know the homework or something), so he answered and hit the speaker button.

"Hello?"

"Riku!" It was Sora. Riku couldn't honestly say he was surprised. "Do you know what today is?"

"Friday?" Riku tried, only half-listening to his friend as he continued playing his game.

"Yes! And do you know what tomorrow is?"

"Saturday...?"

"And?"

"And..." Riku tried to remember if there was any holiday coming up the next day, but he couldn't come up with anything. Was it a birthday? No, he was pretty sure he would remember his friends' birthdays. "I'm drawing a blank," he admitted. "What's going on tomorrow?"

"Don't tell me you've forgotten already!" exclaimed Sora. "Tomorrow is the _rumble_!"

Ah, yes. The "rumble," as Axel had called it. (Who called it that anymore? They weren't even in gangs!) Of course Riku hadn't forgotten it—it was far too important an event for that—but it _had_ slipped his mind momentarily after such a long day at school. Besides, he hadn't expected Sora to bring it up. The fight was to settle Riku's score with Roxas. Barring the fact that Sora and Roxas were cousins and Riku and Sora were best friends, Sora had nothing to do with it.

_Okay, maybe Sora's connection to me and Roxas means he has something to do with it. Whatever. It's still not his fight. _Riku shrugged to himself. "Yes, the rumble is indeed tomorrow," he agreed. "What about it?"

"We need to recruit our team and go over our battle plans!" was the prompt reply.

"Team?" groaned Riku.

"Of course! You don't honestly think that sneak Roxas is gonna fight you by himself, do you? That policeman said you can have as many team members as you want."

"True, but..." Riku reluctantly paused his game and pulled his attention away from it. He needed to be in full focus in order to deal with tunnel vision Sora. "It's my fight. And Roxas's. I don't even understand why we need teams. That aside, we're all the team we need. The two of us, we can take on anyone."

"That might have been true back on Destiny Islands," Sora conceded, "but Twilight Town is different. Besides, that was always against other kids our age."

"Roxas is your age, isn't he?"

"Yeah, but he has friends like Axel!" Sora said. "Did you see him? He could beat us up!"

Riku doubted that, but he said, "Sure, whatever," anyways. He'd known his friend long enough to recognize when he had gone past the point of being able to convince Sora otherwise once he'd made an opinion. "And just who were you planning on recruiting?"

"Kairi."

"Your girlfriend," Riku stated.

"Yes."

"To fight in a rumble. Your girlfriend," Riku reiterated, just to make sure he had heard correctly.

"That's what I said. Is there a point you're trying to make, Riku?"

"Eh, no," he decided. "Anyone else?"

"Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka," Sora replied.

Riku raised an eyebrow as Sora listed off the names. "Got the whole Destiny Islands crowd, I see."

"Yeah! We've got to stick together!" Sora declared.

"Including you and me, that's six people. We don't want to draw a crowd," warned Riku.

"Oh, I thought of that," replied Sora dismissively. "I figured not everyone will be available, so it'll be good to have back-ups."

Huh, Sora's logic actually made sense for once. Riku was impressed. He wouldn't tell Sora that he was proud of him, though. There was no reason to inflate his ego. "Okay," he said. "So, we go ask 'em if they can make it tomorrow?"

"Yeah, then discuss battle plans."

"Battle plans?" Riku recalled Sora mentioning that near the beginning of the call.

"Of course! We can't go into battle unprepared!"

"Er, sure," agreed Riku uncertainly. He didn't think they needed a strategy, but he figured it didn't matter. "We're going now, then?"

"I'm waiting for you outside your house right now!" Sora informed him cheerfully.

Riku blinked. "Creeper." He ended the call, slipped his PSP into his pocket, grabbed his jacket, and exited the house.

Sora was waiting for him on the driveway outside Riku's house, as he'd said. Once he spotted his friend, he waved and called to him, "Let's go, let's go!"

"I'm coming. Calm down." Riku rolled his eyes but followed Sora as his friend fairly bounced down the road, babbling excitedly about some amazing battle plan he'd constructed. Having pulled out his PSP and continued playing, Riku didn't hear most of it, but he was pretty sure it had something to do with a phoenix.

After effectively tuning Sora out for a while, the two arrived at Kairi's house. Sora knocked on the door to the rhythm of 'Shave and a Haircut, Two Bits' then turned to Riku and said, "So, what do you think of my battle plan?"

Riku wasn't about to let Sora know that he hadn't been listening to him at all the past several minutes. "I think we should wait until we have everyone gathered and then go over the battle plan together," he answered, carefully evading the actual question.

Sora didn't seem to be satisfied with the answer, but thankfully Riku was saved by the door being opened by Kairi.

"Okay, what's going on, you two?" she asked suspiciously.

"What's with that tone?" Sora's tone projected his hurt quite clearly.

Kairi rolled her eyes. "Please. You two are always up to no good. Besides, you," she pointed at Sora, "haven't been answering my calls for the past two days."

"Sorry!" squeaked Sora. "I've been...busy."

"He's been solving a case for me," Riku put in, not even bothering to look up from his PSP as he spoke.

"Has he?" Kairi asked skeptically. "And has his investigation led him here?"

"In a sense," answered Riku vaguely.

"There's gonna be a _rumble_, Kairi!" exclaimed Sora. "You've got to be on our team!"

"Rumble?" echoed Kairi.

"Yeah! A fight!"

"Aren't you a bit old—and hopefully _mature—_to be getting into fistfights?" Kairi sighed.

"Not just a fistfight! We can use Struggle-approved weapons, too!" Sora pointed out.

Riku shook his head, pausing his game and looking up and Kairi. "This is a serious matter. Serious matters warrant fights."

"What _is_ going on?" Kairi asked curiously.

Sora checked his watch. "We're gonna miss the train to Market Street. C'mon, we'll explain on the way."

"Wait—to the fight?" asked Kairi.

"Of course not, silly!" scoffed Sora. "The rumble is tomorrow. We need to recruit our team today."

"Of course," said Kairi dryly. "Silly me. I'll go with you to Market Street, then, but no promises for tomorrow."

Riku tucked his PSP back into his pocket and walked beside Sora and Kairi. He had no doubt that Sora would be enthusiastically telling most of the story, and he wanted to make sure that there were no misunderstandings. But Sora managed to fill Kairi in on the happenings of the past few days without making any blunders, and Riku just offered a few tidbits that he left out.

"Let me get this straight." said Kairi once they had finished recounting the events. "You two want to beat up Sora's cousin, Roxas, because he dropped his skateboard off the clock tower and made Riku die in his video game?"

"And Roxas wants to beat Riku up for taking his skateboard," Sora added helpfully.

Kairi shook her head. "The immaturity of boys never ceases to astound me."

"So, does that mean you're in or out?"

Kairi didn't answer right away, and the three walked in silence for a few minutes. Finally, she said, "In. I don't think I could stand the humiliation if my boyfriend lost because I didn't join the fight."

Riku twitched at the insinuation that they would face an embarrassing defeat without Kairi, but chose to not make comment on the matter—at least, not immediately. Instead, he waited to hear Sora's response.

"Wow, thanks a lot, Kairi!"

If only he'd said it sarcastically, thought Riku. But, no. He sounded wholly earnest, the idiot. He'd have to let Kairi know that her implications were not lost on _both _of them.

"Yeah, thanks," he grumbled—_sarcastically_.

The train ride to Market Street didn't take long, but Riku found it more annoying than usual because Sora kept trying to watch him play _Crisis Core._ It threw off his concentration, and he ended up putting it on sleep mode. Sora really needed to learn the meaning of _personal space_. They soon arrived at their destination, though, and Riku was able to play his game again as he walked behind his two friends.

Tidus's house was the closest, so they went there first. Sora knocked on the door, and they waited. Then he rang the doorbell and knocked again. And waited.

Riku glanced up from his PSP. "Guess he's not—"

"TIIIIIIIDUS!" yelled Sora.

"—home," finished Riku with a sigh. "Sora, please don't yell like that. I really don't think he's—"

A soccer ball came flying from the side of the house. Trapping it with his foot, Riku added, "I stand corrected."

"Hey, guys!" called Tidus breathlessly as he ran up to them. "Sorry, I didn't hear you."

"It's fine," Riku said, kicking the ball back to Tidus. "I thought you played baseball," he continued as an afterthought.

"I do. But soccer is fun, too," Tidus replied.

"I see. I used to play soccer."

"ANYWAYS," Sora interrupted loudly, clearly not interested in hearing the two discuss sports. "Tidus, are you busy tomorrow?"

Tidus shook his head. "Nope. Something going on?"

"Yep! There's gonna be a fight, and it'd be great if you could be on our team."

"What kind of fight?"

_How many kinds are there?_ Riku wondered. To Riku, fights were _I punch you, you punch me. _Simple.

Apparently Sora couldn't differentiate the different types of fights, either, because he said, "Just a, you know, fight. In the guise of a mock-Struggle battle. With teams and stuff."

"Sounds fun," said Tidus. "Count me in."

"Great! Now we just need to ask Selphie and Wakka!"

Tidus shook his head. "Not Wakka. He has water polo practice tomorrow."

Sora frowned. "Darn. We'll just have to do with the four of us plus Selphie, if she can make it."

"That's more than enough to beat Roxas's team," Riku murmured, speaking mostly to himself.

"You never know."

There would be no point in arguing with Sora. There almost never was. He'd rather expend his energy on games than waste breath trying to argue with Sora. "Whatever."

Selphie was harder to convince than Tidus, not that Riku was surprised. _Not to be sexist, _he thought, _but I have to be sexist. Of course a girl wouldn't want to fight. Except for Kairi. But Kairi grew up with Sora and me, and we fought a lot, so that doesn't count._

"Why would I want to fight?" she asked. "It's not _my _quarrel."

"Oh, come on, Selphie," said Sora whiningly. "Why not?"

"Boys and your one-track minds," she huffed. "Can you do anything but fight?"

"We've sparred together on Destiny Islands," Riku pointed out, though he didn't really care either way. He was still mostly focused on his game.

"That was different. Besides, Struggle-approved weapons only? That means I can't use my jump rope!"

Kairi sighed and stepped forward. "Selphie, if these idiots lose, Destiny Islands will be put to shame. No one would root for any of us in competitions!"

"As if I care about that. We've never even had anyone become Struggle Champion before."

"Riku _would _have," said Sora accusingly, "if he hadn't stayed up _all night _playing video games and overslept!"

"Well, I'm _sorry_ that I wanted to know how _Soul Calibur _ended," Riku snapped. "Why don't you not fail next time and become champion yourself?"

"I didn't expect Seifer to be so good!" Sora yelped. "And he won by default because you didn't make it to the match!"

"Boys," said Kairi sharply.

Riku took his frustration out by killing things in his game. "That's besides the point. If Selphie doesn't want to fight, she doesn't have to."

"Thank you," said Selphie.

Turning to leave, he added, "It's not my problem if girls are too _lame _to fight."

"What was that?" asked Selphie, and Kairi echoed the sentiment.

Riku looked over his shoulder and was surprised to see a look of absolute fury in Selphie's and Kairi's eyes. What had he said, anyways? He was paying more attention to his game than the conversation around them.

"What. Was. That?" Selphie repeated.

"Um."

"I'm in," said Selphie, glaring at Riku. "I'll show you who the _real _losers are."

"Awesome!" chirped Sora. "That was a smart move," he added to Riku in a whisper.

Riku hadn't meant to provoke Selphie into joining, but oh, well. "Yeah, I guess?"

"Okay! Now that we have everyone, let's go over our battle plan!" cheered Sora. "Selphie, mind if we use your house?"

Selphie shrugged nonchalantly. "My parents won't mind." She pulled the door open, and Sora barreled in, followed by Riku, Tidus, and Kairi.

They were led to the kitchen, where they took their seats around the table. Sora insisted that he should sit at the head of the table.

"After all, I'm your leader," he said. "I'll go over my battle plan with you."

"I thought I was the leader?" Riku muttered. No one listened to him, but it was just as well. He'd rather play his game than listen to Sora detail his probably ridiculously-overcomplicated battle plans. If he could have it his way, he'd just say, _We go in, we beat them up. Game, set, match._ It was all Sora's fault. He always messed up Riku's beautifully simple, efficient plans.

"Okay, guys," said Sora once they had all settled, "I came up with a strategy last night, and I think it's really good."

"Let's hear it, then," suggested Riku, rolling his eyes. "O Wise One."

"Riku, please put your PSP away. It's disrupting our meeting."

"I'm listening," he replied.

Sora let out an impatient huff. "Fine. A-ny-ways, since we don't know our opponents' strategy, I figure the best idea is to simply distract them from the front and hit them hard from the back."

"And just how do you propose we do that?" Riku asked disinterestedly.

"We show them our _phoenix pose_!"*****

Riku blinked, actually pausing in his game to give Sora his attention. "Pardon?"

"It's like this..." Sora stood up, then lifted both of his arms in the air. He lifted his knee so it was level to his stomach, toe pointed down, and shouted, "WE ARE THE PHOENIX!"

After of few seconds of staring stupidly, Riku spluttered, "That's ridiculous!"

"I know, and they'll be so surprised by it that they won't notice anyone sneaking to hit them from behind!"

"That's never going to work, and _even if it did_," he added as Sora opened his mouth to protest, "there is _no way _I am going to make myself look stupid in front of everyone like that."

Sora frowned. "You're no fun. _You _guys think my idea is good, right?" He turned to appeal to his other friends.

"Actually, I have to agree with Riku on this," Kairi replied. "It's pretty stupid. Sorry, Sora."

"I thought it looked cool," said Tidus uncertainly.

Selphie shrugged. "I don't care."

Sora stared contemplatively at the table, pursing his lips in thought, then brightened up again and said, "Then Tidus and I can do the phoenix pose, and you guys can attack while they're distracted!"

"I don't want you to embarrass _my _team like that." Riku scowled at Sora.

"But I really, really, _really_ want to do it! Pleeeaaase, Rikuuuu?"

Alarms were going off in Riku's mind. _He's going to give you the kicked puppy look. Do not fall for it. DO NOT FALL FOR IT. Do not make eye contact. Actually, do not look at all. Look at the PSP. Do _not _look at Sor—_

Too late.

Stupid freaking kicked puppy look.

"Fine! Do what you want." Riku rolled his eyes.

"Yay! Thank you!"

"Ugh, whatever."

"And that's all I wanted to say," Sora announced, looking very pleased with himself. "Is there anything else someone would like to say?"

"Actually, I do. Just one thing," Riku answered. "Roxas is mine. Don't interfere."

Sora nodded. "Fair enough."

"Weapons?" Kairi asked.

"Got mine," Riku answered immediately.

"Me too," echoed Sora and Tidus.

Selphie frowned. "I don't have one."

"I have a spare standard bat you can use," Sora offered.

"I want my jump rope." Selphie crossed her arms stubbornly.

"Let's go the the Struggle Weaponry store," suggested Kairi.

Sora readily agreed to this. "I want a new bat, too!"

Selphie shrugged noncommittally. "Okay."

"Well, I'm not going," said Riku. "But you guys have fun."

"'Kay," Sora said. "See you at the Sandlot tomorrow."

"Yep."

* * *

"I'm telling you, we just need to go there and beat them up, no strategies needed!" Roxas nodded, sure of himself.

They were at his house, lounging around in the living room. After recruiting their team (consisting of four people total), Roxas had assumed they were done, but Axel had insisted upon discussing battle strategies. Quite frankly, Roxas found the notion ridiculous. Strategy? For a fight like this? It was unnecessary. Their team was experienced _and _skilled enough.

There was Axel, of course, and even if he was a bad policeman (Axel denied this), he was a good fighter. He had an unusual weapon preference, though—frisbees. Still, whatever worked worked, and Roxas wasn't going to complain.

Then there was Xigbar, Axel's friend from the police force, and the only person Roxas knew who could effectively use guns in Struggle matches. Not real guns, of course, but (personally modified) Nerf guns. Nerf guns were in fact struggle-approved, even modded ones, but not a lot of people knew this, and the ones who did didn't use them because Nerf guns weren't the best at knocking off orbs attached to vests and helmets with velcro.

Xion was Roxas's friend from school. She used a standard issue Struggle bat, which Roxas felt was the most efficient anyways. Though she wasn't usually one to fight, she agreed without hesitation when Roxas requested her help, for which Roxas was grateful. It was good to know your friends would back you up.

And then there was Roxas himself. Like Xion, he wielded a standard Struggle bat—no custom orders or modifications. He was fairly confident in his Struggle skills and had no doubt that their team was going to win. A strategy was not needed. Which was precisely why he was arguing now.

"There are too many uncertain factors," he continued. "How many people will be on Riku's team, what weapons will they use, how skilled are they, et cetera."

Axel stalled in answering by taking a bite out of his sea salt ice cream (Roxas had bought one for each of them at a discounted price). "Then what do you think we should do?" he asked at length.

"Wing it. Improvise. There's no way they're better than us anyways."

"I don't know, Roxas," ventured Xion. "We should at least have some vague idea of what we're going to be doing, otherwise it'll be one huge mess."

"Aren't all fights like that?" muttered Roxas to himself. He puffed out an irritated sigh. It was a simple, straightforward fight. Why would they need a strategy? Girls just _had _to be _so _organized, didn't they? Yes, that's right. Strategies were for girls.

...Wait. Axel was the one who had first talked about coming up with a strategy. Did that make him a girl? No, that would be really bad. And awkward. Because they were best friends and Axel used to be his babysitter and they played Call of Duty and other first person shooters together and Axel used to buy him sea salt ice cram all the time and Axel just _couldn't_ be a girl, otherwise that would be _really awkward._

"You okay, Roxas?" asked Axel, sounding a bit concerned. "You look kind of freaked out."

"I'm fine," replied Roxas, forcing himself to smile. "Strategy, right? Fine. I'm fighting Riku. Stay out of my way and keep the others off me."

"No, you guys should cover me," Xigbar said as he fiddled with his Nerf gun, probably making even more adjustments to his already heavily-modded gun. "Can't snipe if someone's beating my face in."

"Why would you snipe in a Struggle anyways?" Roxas felt the need to ask. "I don't even get how Nerf guns work as Struggle weapons in the first place."

"Watch the master tomorrow," said Xigbar. "Then you'll see. Unless you wanna see now?" He smirked.

"Taking your word for it," Roxas decided, because he did not want to become the target dummy of a demonstration. "So, I'm on Riku. Xigbar is in the back, I guess, and Axel and Xion can do whatever."

"That sounds terribly boring, Roxas," said Axel. "I think we should have formations, like Formation Awesome."

Roxas raised an eyebrow. "And what would this 'Formation Awesome' look like?"

"I'm in the center, 'cause I'm awesome—"

"Rejected," interrupted Roxas.

"Killjoy."

"Idiot."

"I resent that."

"Anyways, we came up with a 'battle plan,' if you want to call it that," said Roxas. "Now watch as it fails miserably because of aforementioned uncertain factors."

Axel coughed. "'Cause it's a lame plan."

Roxas shot a glare in his direction. "Out of my house." Then a thought occurred to him, and he retracted his previous statement. "Wait. Referee?"

"Oh, right. On it." Axel whipped out his cell phone, punched in some numbers, and put the device to his ear.

"Hey, Demyx? It's Axel." There was a pause as Demyx answered. "You busy tomorrow? Noon." Another pause. "I need you to ref." Pause. "Uh-huh. Sandlot." Pause. "Yep." Pause. "WHY DOES EVERYONE CALL ME A BAD COP?" Pause again. "Yeah, whatever. Bye." He flipped the phone shut and flashed a grin at Roxas. "There. No problem."

"Riiight. I think I need to relieve stress now. CoD at your place?"

"Sure."

"I hope that means we're invited." Xigbar grinned.

"No way," Roxas said immediately.

"Now, now, don't be rude, Rox," Axel chided him. "Xion and Xigbar can come, too."

"Xion can come, but not Xigbar!"

"It's my house, I hope you know."

Roxas groaned, defeated.

And so, instead of relieving stress, Roxas became infinitely more stressed and annoyed and pissed off because Xigbar could beat them all at Call of Duty with one hand tied behind his back and his eyes closed.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: HEY, THAT WAS FAST, WASN'T IT? AREN'T I AWESOME.  
...I really don't have anything else to say. Enjoy?~ XD  
**

* * *

_**Chapter 5 – Saturday**_

"The rules of this rum—_ahem—_mock-Struggle match will be as follows..."

Riku looked on as Demyx, one of Roxas's friends, pulled out and unfolded a sheet of paper. He wondered if it was fair for the referee to be a friend of the enemy, but shrugged it off. In the end, he didn't actually care which team won. All that mattered was Roxas needed a beating, and Riku would give it to him.

"Only Struggle-approved weapons may be used. Fistfighting is also acceptable."

"Hey, that old guy has a Nerf gun!" Sora accused, pointing.

Demyx looked expectantly at said 'old guy.'

"Nerf guns are approved weapons," he said. "And I'm not just some 'old guy.'" He leveled the gun to Sora's chest. "Xigbar."

He was met with silence.

"Struggle champ from several years ago," Axel added, putting just a little too much (in Riku's opinion, and apparently in Xigbar's opinion, too, considering the way he glared at the redhead) emphasis on the word _several_. "Got it memorized? He's a _legend_."

Riku exchanged a glance with Sora, who shook his head. He didn't recognize the name, either.

"We, er, just moved here after high school." Sora admitted. "And we don't follow on the history of Struggle that much."

"Lame," said Axel.

Riku cleared his throat, tapping his foot impatiently. "Continue with the rules?"

"Oh, right." Demyx looked at his paper again. "Time limit of the rumble is ten minutes."

"What!" That was Roxas.

It seemed fair enough to Riku. Ten minutes would be plenty of time.

"Serious injuries, i.e., broken bones, may not be inflicted purposely," Demyx continued. "Fair combat is expected. As referee, I am entitled to penalize for cheap shots."

Nods of agreements.

"Yes, kicking guys in the balls is a cheap shot."

Disappointed groans all around.

"Are the rules understood by all?" asked Demyx.

"Yes!" they chorused.

"Then, Team Roxas, go to the left." Demyx pointed. "And Team Riku, to the right. Riku, Roxas, step forward and shake."

They did so, Roxas scowling at him as they faced each other and shook hands. Riku smirked. They were _so_ going to win.

"Take your weapons."

Riku picked up his weapon, a Struggle bat with a hand-guard, and glanced over the other weapons. Sora, Roxas, and the black-haired girl on Roxas's team all had standard issue Struggle bats. In the end, Selphie had opted for a standard bat as well, although Sora said she had been complaining the whole time about it. Tidus's looked more or less like the standard bat, except that it was longer and thinner, much like a baseball bat. Kairi had one just like it, presumably borrowed from Tidus. Xigbar had his Nerf guns and Axel had, curiously enough, frisbees.

"Aaand...three, two, one, START!"

Any strategy they might have come up with disappeared from Riku's mind the moment Demyx shouted for them to begin. He charged straight for Roxas, who was running for him anyways, and struck him with his bat, aiming at the hand. Roxas parried the blow and swung his own bat at him, but Riku sidestepped it easily and deftly knocked Roxas's bat out of his hands. After the briefest of pauses, Riku discarded his own weapon and launched himself at Roxas.

It would be impossible for Riku to later recount the exact details of what happened next. It was all a blur, really. He _did_ remember rolling around on the ground wrestling with Roxas, each of them trying to gain the upper hand. There was much punching, kicking, and head-butting involved. He remembered getting kicked in the stomach and punching Roxas square on his chest, then there was another moment of confusion while they struck out blindly and tried to pin each other down.

He also remembered that, when they were eventually pulled apart from each other (Sora grabbing Riku and Axel, Roxas), bruised and bleeding and gasping for breath but still struggling to attack each other again, it had felt like less than three minutes had passed since the fight began.

"All right, break it up, guys," said a cop gruffly. "That's enough of that. Axel, Xigbar, care to explain what was going on here?" For some reason, he didn't seem to be too surprised at the idea of his two fellow policemen being involved in a fight.

Axel coughed and Xigbar whistled innocently, hiding his Nerf guns behind his back.

"It was a mock Struggle match, see," Axel tried to explain. "And it got a little...out of hand, so me and Xiggy were trying to break it up."

The policeman didn't look impressed, amused, or much of anything anything, really. "Right. You were trying to break it up. Which explains why you were throwing frisbees and yelling, 'I'll take you all out!'"

"Yes, sir! That's right, sir!" Axel said, grinning goofily.

"Well, it's obvious that _I'm_ not a culprit here," Xigbar announced. "I was standing in the back away from the fight, trying to stop them. I even had to fire a few warning shots."

"You were rapid-firing fake guns and cackling like a madman."

"Nerf guns!" exclaimed Xigbar. "Do you not realize how amazing they are?"

The policeman stared at him uncertainly.

"Just leave me to deal with them," Xigbar insisted. "I can take care of a little scuffle like this."

After another moment's hesitance, the cop nodded in assent and left. The others sighed in relief at being let off the hook.

"Being a senior policeman sure has it's benefits," Xigbar said, sounding satisfied.

Sora gaped at him. "Abuse of power."

"Well, I'm not complaining. And you can let me go now," Riku added to Sora.

"You're not going to start fighting again?" he checked.

"Nope."

Sora released his hold of Riku, who rubbed his arm, which was scraped and bleeding. He'd have to wash it later; it wouldn't be good if it got infected. He was also bruised all over, which would have sucked, but it was worth it because he could see that Roxas was equally bruised and beaten. Bruised, beaten, and apparently still hungry for a fight. He was still violently trying to pull free from Axel's grip, to no avail.

"Well, I'm going home," Riku announced, stretching.

"Wait, no!" cried Roxas. "I'm not done yet!"

"Sucks for you."

"Are you really okay leaving it like this?" Sora whispered. "It's not clear which team won, and Demyx bailed when the cop arrived."

"It's fine. I'm done," Riku replied dismissively. He was satisfied with the beating he'd given Roxas and, besides, he'd almost completed his game and was eager to go back home and finish it (he didn't risk bringing it with him to the fight).

Sora shrugged. "If you say so." Turning to the others, he added, "We're going back to Sunset Terrace now. Bye!"

"Wait!" Roxas protested again. "Come _on_!" He stomped his foot angrily.

"Do you forfeit?" Axel asked Riku.

He smirked. He accomplished what he had come for—he'd already won. "Sure, whatever."

"That doesn't—matter—freakin' let go—of me!" seethed Roxas, still trying to pull free.

"Sorry, Roxas. They're done fighting." Axel shrugged.

"See you later, Roxas!" Sora called, his cheerful tone making Riku wonder if he forgot that he was kind of holding a grudge against his cousin.

Roxas scowled at him. Actually, he was probably scowling at Riku as well as Sora, but Riku really couldn't care less. He had a game to get to.

* * *

After Riku and his team had disappeared from sight, Axel finally let Roxas go, and the latter sunk down to sit on the ground, looking cross. "I can't believe he ditched like that!" he fumed. "The coward."

"What's done is done," Axel said. "Now that you two have thoroughly beaten each other up, are you happy?"

"_No._ Besides the fact that we didn't finish our fight, he didn't give me back my skateboard yet."

"Why don't you just let it go already?" Axel asked. "It's not that important."

"Yes, it is."

"No, it's not."

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Why are you so determined to stop me?" Roxas snapped, raising his head challengingly.

"Because..." Axel trailed off and shook his head. "Never mind. You're right; you should go get your board back."

Roxas stood up and dusted off his pants, cringing a bit as he patted one of his bruises. "Glad you agree. I'm off, then."

"Yeah, okay. Bye."

Roxas took off for Station Plaza. Bursting through the doors, he demanded, without preamble, "When's the next train to Sunset Terrace gonna arrive?"

The lady selling tickets blinked at him. "The train left just ten minutes ago. You'll have to wait about thirty minutes."

Cursing under his breath, he turned and said, "Alright. Thanks." At least there was no fare to go to Sunset Terrace. But maybe if they charged, then they could afford to have more trains going there. It was a small district, though, and not many people went there in the first place, so Roxas was probably out of luck. Sighing, he went to sit on a bench to wait.

Well, he had half an hour to kill...what could he do? Humming to himself, Roxas pulled out his cell phone and started playing random tunes, hitting the numbers on his phone for the different notes. This entertained him for roughly five minutes. After that, he started playing Tetris on his phone. It was annoying but also somehow really addicting.

Finally, the train arrived, and Roxas spent the next twenty minutes shouting at the stupid ghosts who kept killing Pac-Man and wishing he had another game on his phone besides Pac-Man and Tetris. It wasn't until he actually arrived at Sunset terrace that Roxas realized he had no idea where Riku lived.

Frowning, Roxas quickly dialed Sora's number and pressed the call button.

After a few rings, it was answered, and Sora's voice came through. "Hello?"

"Hey, Sora. Um, do you think you can tell me where Riku lives?"

"It'll cost you!" Sora warned in a happy, singsong tone.

Roxas sighed. He really hated asking for help, and especially from Sora, but what other choice did he have? "I said I was sorry. Can you _please _just help me out, just this once?" He started walking towards Sora's house as he spoke. "I really need my skateboard back."

"I'm not saying a wo-ord," was Sora's response, still talking in an annoying singsong and stretching 'word' out to two syllables.

"But, Sora..."

"Nope."

Roxas paused on the sidewalk by the driveway of Sora's house. "I'm outside your house. Don't make me go in there and beat the answer out of you."

"Wait—you're outside my house?"

"Yes, is there a problem with that?" Roxas asked smugly.

"Well, yeah, I mean, Riku's place is just two h—" He broke off abruptly.

"Two _what_?"

"Blocks, yeah! Two _blocks_ down! So, um..."

Roxas flipped the phone shut, ending the call without a word. He looked at the houses two down from either side of Sora's. Unfortunately, they were cookie cutter houses and looked identical, save for the color. Taking a gamble, he picked one at random and darted across the lawns to it. He had a fifty-fifty chance, after all.

He supposed the good thing about cookie cutter houses was that they had pretty basic layouts. Prowling to the side of the house, Roxas picked out the window that would probably show him the living room and slowly raised his head to peer through it, wary of being spotted. When he looked inside, however, everything else sort of stopped mattering. His eyes widened, and his jaw went slack. It was as if there was a beam of holy light, as if the very angels were singing. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Roxas was thinking that this must be what true love at first sight felt like. A whine of pure, unbridled _want_ escaped his lips. For there, on the other side of the glass, sitting innocently in front of a ridiculously large flat screen television, was an Xbox 360.

"Oh my God," whispered Roxas. "_Oh my God._" He dropped dazedly, leaning against the wall beneath the window.

An Xbox. It was an Xbox. A freaking _Xbox 360, _hooked up to a freaking _flat screen TV_. All that stood between Roxas and heaven was a sheet of glass.

Roxas looked through the window again. Oh. Riku was on the couch, playing his PSP. So, he had picked the right house after all—and why the heck was he playing a PSP when he had an _Xbox 360_? But that was really irrelevant. What _was _relevant was that the Xbox was being neglected and collecting dust, which obviously meant Roxas had to take it for himself. But how to get past Riku?

There was a buzz in his pocket and _Don't Stop Believing_ started playing. Roxas slapped his hand to his pocket. _Not now!_ He grabbed his phone and glanced at the caller. He was tempted to answer and hang up, but then he'd probably get called again, so he flipped the phone open and hissed into it, "What do you want, Axel? Not exactly the best time right now."

"Yeah, but, um... I...have to tell you something, Roxas."

The hesitance in Axel's tone both worried Roxas and piqued his curiosity. But he still had more important things to do. Like drool over Riku's Xbox 360.

"I'm kind of busy right now," Roxas whispered. "Can I call you back?"

"Busy because of your skateboard again, huh?" Axel asked with a sigh. "This is really important, though."

"Fine, but make it quick." He was already inching up to look through the window again.

"I didn't want to tell you before, but...I...um...the thing is, I..."

Oh, no. Oh, no, no, _no_. Axel wasn't about to... Axel wasn't about to confess to being a girl, was he? Oh, please no. Anything but that!

"Spit it out," Roxas said, struggling to keep his voice even because he didn't want to let on how worried he was.

"I didn't custom order that skateboard," Axel blurted out. "It's just one of those really cheap brands. I burned your name onto it. It's not engraved or anything."

Roxas was so relieved that Axel wasn't a girl that he was at a loss of what to say for a moment.

"So, just...just forget about the board, okay? I can buy you a new one."

"Is that what's been eating you the past few days?" asked Roxas.

"Yeah," Axel admitted. "I didn't tell you because you just assumed and I didn't want to disappoint you."

Even though he was practically salivating at the sight of the Xbox 360, Roxas managed to gather his thoughts and replied, "But it was a gift from you. That makes it special."

"Aww, really? I'm—"

"Anyways, there's something else more important," Roxas continued, hardly even noticing that he cut his friend off.

After grumbling indistinctly for a moment, Axel asked, "What?"

"So I'm looking through Riku's window—"

"What."

"—and he has an Xbox 360 and a _huge _flat screen TV! I swear, I have never seen such a freaking huge TV. And that Xbox, oh my _God_, Axel!" Roxas had to remember to keep his voice down, and made a conscious effort to do so.

"Um..."

"And they're _right in front of him_, and he's just playing on his stupid PSP! The Xbox is collecting _dust_, Axel! You've gotta help me get it!"

"And just what do you expect me to do?" Axel asked.

"I dunno." Roxas slid down against the wall again. "Confiscate it or something. You're a policeman."

"Rox, Xigbar and I have already covered for you at the rumble, but that was totally different. Both parties were fine with it. I won't abuse my powers to get an Xbox 360 for you like that."

"Oh, c'mon, Axel..."

"No. That's dishonest. It's not right."

Roxas cursed. "Fine, then. I'll just take it myself."

"Hey, wait, I don't want to arrest you—"

"It's cool. I got this. No one will ever know." Grinning to himself, Roxas ended the call and strolled casually to the front door. He knocked on it a few times and waited for Riku to answer it. Then he knocked again. And again.

The door was opened by an extremely pissed-off Riku.

"Hey, Riku! Mind if I use your bathro—"

_SLAM._

Well, that sucked. But Roxas was not discouraged. He would get that Xbox 360 if it was the last thing he did. No, wait. He didn't want it to be the _last _thing he did, because he wanted to be able to play it after he got it. So, he would get that Xbox 360 and play on it if it was the last thing he did. It was time to come up with a master plan.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **Ridiculously short chapter is ridiculously short. I'm sorry. D: Anyways, eventual Riku/Roxas is confirmed! But it won't happen for maybe another two chapters. XD

Anyways, I know I'm kind of rushing things. I think I've been rushing from the start. I kind of want to get this story over with, though. I don't really like it anymore. I mean, the idea was good...I really did like the idea, but I think I just executed it really badly. So, I'm planning on writing another fic after this one (hopefully better and more in-character).

As I side note, I wrote a sort of companion fic to this one, called **Weekends**. Sixteen-year-old delinquent Axel babysitting six-year-old Roxas. What's not to love? ;D

* * *

_**Chapter Six – Sunday (eight days after the previous chapter)**_

It took about a week for Roxas to realize that he _wouldn't be able to steal Riku's Xbox 360._ He'd tried, oh, yes, he'd tried. The first night, he tried to find an open window, but they were all shut and locked securely. There was no doggy door for him to crawl through, and the door was built in the style with a chain inside, so even if he picked the lock open, he wouldn't be able to get in.

And Riku never opened the freaking door. Roxas must have come a dozen times trying to "sell ice cream," but Riku either never answered the door or slammed it right away when he saw it was Roxas. He even saw through his (excellent) disguises!

Roxas realized that there was only one option left: He had to become Riku's friend. Then he would _surely_ let Roxas play on his Xbox!

The first step of this brilliant plan was to reconcile with Sora. Though it had taken two boxes of sea salt ice creams and saying, "Sora is cooler than Roxas," (What was that shattering sound? Roxas was pretty sure it was the sound of his pride breaking.) Sora finally forgave him. The good news was, when Sora forgave someone, he _really_ forgave someone. Now they were best of friends, as if they had never quarreled at all.

Now that he and Sora had made up, Roxas could move on to the second stage of his plan: Get himself _properly introduced_ to Riku. How to do this? Through Sora, of course.

Which was why Roxas was currently hanging out at his cousin's house. "'Ey, Sora, do me a favor?" Roxas asked as casually as he could.

"Depends," Sora decided. "What's up?"

"Can you properly introduce me to Riku?" Roxas asked. "I, ah, want to...apologize—" Geez, was there anything of his pride left? Probably not. "—and, well, he hasn't given me my skateboard back yet."

"Sure!" Sora agreed. "I don't like seeing you guys fighting. You're my best friends, after all. Let's go right now!" He leaped off the couch and headed for the door.

Roxas followed him, saying, "Yesss," to himself in victory.

He was curious to see how Sora would get his friend to open the door. As it turned out, the trick was to bang noisily on the door and holler, "RIKU, IT'S SORA!"

The door swung open.

_Yeah, open the door for _him_, why don't you,_ Roxas thought irritably. _Thanks a lot._

"What do you want and what is _he _doing here?" Riku scowled at Roxas as he spoke.

_Wha—I _resent_ that, you __bucket_ _of douchebaggery!_ Roxas was smart enough to keep his thoughts to himself.

"I thought you two should make up," Sora explained.

_'I thought'? Yeah, right._ Still, if Sora was taking credit for his idea, Riku would probably be less suspicious. And Roxas might be able to salvage a bit of his dignity.

"Plus, I need my skateboard back," he put in quickly.

Riku turned around, raising a hand and waving it. "Whatever. You can come in, I guess."

Sora led Roxas to the living room while Riku went upstairs for the skateboard. Of course, the first thing Roxas saw was the Xbox 360.

_Ohmygod._

He tried very hard not to nerd out about it to Sora and distracted himself by looking at the TV screen. It looked like some weird game was on. Roxas could see that Riku's Playstation 2 was hooked up and running. So, he'd play his PSP and has PS2, but leave his Xbox to rot? What was wrong with this guy?

"Here's your stupid skateboard," Riku said, dumping the broken pieces onto Roxas's lap.

Roxas stared at the pieces in horror, temporarily forgetting about the Xbox. It finally sunk in that his skateboard—his _skateboard_, which his _best friend_ had given him for his birthday—was _broken_. He'd never be able to use it again. And it was said best friend who'd...

Wait.

Why hadn't he beaten up Axel yet?

"I'm gonna _kill_ him!" cried Roxas, standing up abruptly. The pieces of skateboard tumbled from his lap.

"Wait, I thought you wanted to apologize!" Sora said.

Roxas stared at him confusedly, then his face cleared. "Not him," he clarified. "Axel. He was the one who dropped my skateboard."

"Wait." Now it was Riku who looked confused. "You weren't the one who dropped it?"

"Of course not! Why would I drop my own skateboard off the clock tower?" Roxas scoffed.

"Then why the heck did I beat you up?" Riku asked. "Actually, why did _you_ beat _me_ up?"

Roxas couldn't believe it. Wasn't it obvious? "Because you took my skateboard!"

Riku frowned. "Because _I _needed to find who dropped it."

"So it was all a big misunderstanding," sighed Sora happily. "That's great! Now you two can make up and be friends!"

"Not so fast." As much as Roxas wanted to become Riku's friend so he could play on his Xbox, he needed to make this clear. "Either way, he stole my skateboard."

Nodding in agreement, Riku said, "And it was still his skateboard that killed me in my game."

"Roxas..." Sora prodded his cousin. "But I thought you came to apologize..."

"Um, yeah, okay. Sorry...for picking a fight," Roxas muttered. That was it. He had no pride, dignity, or anything synonymous with it left. He had apologized more times since the whole skateboard incident started than he had his whole life. _It's for a good cause, _he reminded himself.

Speaking of a good cause, that was why he was here. He had a mission to do. Roxas glanced around casually, his eyes falling on the backpack on the floor by the couch. Sitting beside it, slightly crumpled, was a slip of paper. A schedule, to be specific. _Score._

"Yeah, whatever," said Riku dismissively. "I've already beaten the game with zero deaths, so I don't really care anymore. But I have Tales of Symphonia now, and you kind of interrupted me." He gestured to the television. "So if that's all you came for..."

Roxas wandered by the backpack, eyeing the schedule and quickly memorizing it. "Er, where's your bathroom?"

Riku pointed, and Roxas wheeled around and walked towards it. He didn't really have to go, but he needed an excuse to explain his randomly walking around. Luckily, Riku didn't seem to notice him looking at the schedule, so he was safe. Roxas muttered the room numbers under his breath as he stood around in the bathroom for a while, then went out and rejoined Sora.

"Okay, we'll stop bothering you now," he said. "Thanks for giving me my skateboard back."

"Mmhm." Riku had already returned to his game and was hardly paying attention to him.

Roxas shrugged to himself. He'd collected some valuable information today, valuable information that would be put in use come tomorrow.

* * *

As planned, Roxas put his plan into action the very next day, Monday. After first period, he took a detour from his usual route to intercept Riku on his way to second. Spotting his target as he walked, he waved a hand frantically and called, "Hey, Riku!"

Riku turned briefly, spotted Roxas, then sharply looked away and spoke to his friend.

Roxas frowned. "Riku!"

His friend nudged him and said something, and Riku reluctantly waved at Roxas, halting in his steps as Roxas hurried to catch up with them.

"How are you?"

"Good, until you showed up," growled Riku.

"Ouch. That hurts, you know. Who's this?"

"Kairi," Riku answered shortly. "Childhood friend."

"I see. I'm Roxas," he added to her.

She smiled. "Nice to meet you."

Looking back to Riku, Roxas began to say, "Well—"

"I'm going to be tardy, sorry," Riku cut in, not sounding very apologetic. "You'd better go, too."

"Oh—okay. See you later."

"...yeah."

Roxas turned and trudged to his second period class, seething. Late? They had plenty of time! Geez, was Riku such a jerk to _everyone_? Probably not, he realized. But he was still making it pretty clear how much he disliked Roxas. That could prove to be a problem, but Roxas was sure he would be able to work around it.

After second period, Roxas repeated the process. And then after third.

"Are you following me?" Riku asked as they walked to fourth period.

"What? Of course not!" Roxas replied, trying his best to sound offended. "Can't I say hi if I see someone I know?"

"Hmm."

"Anyways, I'll see you later," Roxas continued hurriedly, turning and heading for his next class—completely in the opposite direction. So, Riku was already starting to get suspicious of him. So much for being subtle. But it wasn't as if he was doing anything wrong! Some might call it stalking. Roxas preferred to call it _conveniently bumping into_.

It would be harder to find out where Riku hung out during the lunch hour. Roxas decided that he would need some help for this.

"You want me to stalk Riku?" Xion looked skeptical.

"Not stalk," Roxas corrected. "Conveniently bump into."

Xion remained unconvinced. "Uh-huh."

"Anyways, if you see him, text me, okay?" Roxas asked.

"Alright, I guess," said Xion uncertainly.

"Thanks!" Roxas went off to buy some lunch, then wandered around, eating as he walked. How hard could it be to spot a guy with long silver hair? He decided to check out the building where Riku's next period was.

Luck was on his side today. He spotted Riku sitting with Sora and Kairi in the grass near the building and eating lunch.

"Hey, guys!" he called, running up to them (careful not to drop his lunch).

Riku groaned. "What do you want?"

"Don't be such a sourpuss," Roxas responded, sticking his tongue out childishly.

"Don't you have any friends of your own?" Riku asked testily.

"'Course I do," replied Roxas, affronted. _Just, most of them are adults. _Thanks, _Axel._ "What's wrong with wanting to hang out with you guys?"

Riku rolled his eyes, but Sora chimed in, "Yeah, Riku! Be nice!"

Boy, was he glad Sora had forgiven him. That made things _so_ much easier.

"Whatever." Riku pointedly turned away, and Roxas rolled his eyes back at him. This might take longer than he thought. That just meant he'd have to try to speed it up.

And so the process continued. Roxas tried asking Riku a bit about himself whenever they 'ran into' each other in between periods. Finding common ground might help them become friends, after all. Unfortunately, while Roxas loved first person shooter games, Riku was a fan of roleplaying games. Blah, blah, blah. Story. Dialogue. _Plot._ If he wanted that, he'd go read a book. Geez.

He successfully stalked—ahem, conveniently bumped into—Riku for about three consecutive weeks before deciding that they must be on friend status by now. Now to figure out how to get invited over to play Call of Duty. Glancing at the calendar, Roxas realized that he just might have the perfect excuse.

* * *

It took Riku about three weeks to realize the truth. Of course! It was _so obvious_! Why hadn't he seen it sooner? The way he kept 'bumping into' him. How he kept asking Riku about himself. His readiness to forgive and forget the whole skateboard incident... How had he missed realizing it for so long?

This was bad. This was really, really bad. As such, Riku did the first thing that came to mind.

He called Sora.

"Hi, Riku! What's going on?"

"Sora," said Riku seriously, "there is a problem. A huge problem."

"What? What's wrong?" Sora asked urgently. "Did you die in your game again?"

"No, no. It's not that," he replied. Taking a deep breath, he said, "Sora...I think your cousin likes me."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: **So, um. This fic will either end on chapter 9 or 10. I still don't think it's that great, but thank you to everyone who's reading it. ;A;

* * *

_**Chapter Seven** –** Tuesday**_

"Sora...I think your cousin likes me."

"Really? Really? Riku, that's _great_!"

Riku blinked. Whatever answer he'd been expecting, it certainly wasn't that. Only one word proved to be an appropriate response. "What."

"You know, I was starting to get worried because you've never been interested in anyone before," Sora continued. "We're in college now, after all, and all those other times—oh, if you swing that way, it is _totally_ fine by me. Is that what you were worried about? Because I could _never_ hate you for being gay. Or Roxas, for that matter. I mean, we're best friends! Oh, and if you get together with Roxas, we'll be related by marriage!"

"Sora—! This isn't a good thing! I didn't say—I don't _like_ your cousin!"

"Oh...OH, I see! You _love_ him, right? Wow, that's even better," Sora babbled. "What's the problem, then? Worried about what Roxas thinks? Don't worry, Kairi and I will come up with a master plan for you to win Roxas's heart!"

"Sor—"

_Click._

Riku glared at his phone because Sora wasn't there to glare at. He should have learned by now to never try and get help from Sora. He hadn't even said anything about liking Roxas (because he _didn't_)! He said that he thought _Roxas_ liked _him_.

The Final Fantasy victory fanfare started playing; his cell phone was ringing. Probably Sora. Riku answered the call without even looking at his phone. "What?" he ground out.

"Wow, I don't think I've ever had anyone hate me so much before. You know, I was kind of hoping you were actually done hating me."

"Roxas?"

"Who'd you think it was?" he drawled.

Choosing not to answer that, Riku said instead, "Why are you calling?" His tone was no less hostile or irritable now that he knew it was Roxas on the other end and not Sora.

"Weeell," started Roxas, dragging out the word, "the midnight release of Call of Duty: Black Ops is tomorrow, and I was wondering if you maybe wanted to come with me to buy it? And then, you know, play or something. At your place."

Call of Duty. Was that all? Maybe Roxas didn't like him that way after all. Or, wait, maybe he did, and this was just an excuse. He did ask to come over to play at _his_ house, after all.

"Um, no, I can't," Riku answered. "I'm...busy."

"At midnight?" Roxas asked skeptically, and Riku cringed at the faint trace of hurt in his tone. What if he _did_ just want to be friends? Riku didn't want to be a jerk for jumping to false conclusions.

"Well, alright," he agreed, albeit grudgingly. "I'll go with you."

"Awesome! Thank you!"

"Mmhm."

* * *

Call of Duty was, without a doubt, the only thing that could reduce Roxas to a squealing fanboy. He was not ashamed to admit this. Every guy had acted like a girl before, right? Black Ops, Black Ops, _Black Ops_! As soon as Riku hung up, he dialed Axel's number.

"Axel!" he cried into the phone. "Black Ops! Black freakin' Ops!"

"Comes out midnight tomorrow! I know!" responded Axel cheerfully. "And I'm getting it!"

"Me, too! I'm taking out of my Xbox savings for it, and then I'm gonna play with Riku on his Xbox 360 and flat screen TV!"

"What? Am I invited?" Axel demanded.

"Of course not!" Roxas replied.

"Screw you. Next Friday, after school, come to my place. I will make your little CoD soul _weep_," declared Axel.

"Maybe you forgot," said Roxas haughtily, "I'm a Call of Duty _prodigy_."

"Maybe you forgot," replied Axel, mimicking his tone, "you're out of practice."

Oh, darn. He was, wasn't he? Roxas was surprised he hadn't started suffering from withdrawal yet. He supposed he'd been too busy drooling over Riku's Xbox. But that didn't matter. Prodigy, right? He was a _prodigy_.

"I'll still beat you," he asserted. "Invite Xigbar. I'll beat him, too."

"Don't get cocky, kid," Axel warned. "You've only tied with him _once_."

"That's better than you," Roxas pointed out. "Anyways, I gotta go now, so I'll talk to you later."

"'Kay. See ya."

* * *

As soon as the final bell rang on Wednesday, Roxas made a beeline for the exit by Riku's last class.

"Riku!" he called giddily, waving.

"'Sup?"

"Black Ops, that's what!" Roxas replied. "Come on, we should hurry to Sunset Terrace!"

"Are we going to the game store _now_?" Riku asked. "It's not even evening yet."

"Trust me, we want to be there early," Roxas promised. "Now, let's go!"

"Fine," said Riku, rolling his eyes. "God, you're like a kindergartener hyped up on sugar."

"I resent that," Roxas said, making a conscious effort to calm down as they headed for the train station.

"So, midnight release," Riku said as they walked. "You realize tomorrow is a school day, right?"

"Yeah, so?" Roxas failed to see the problem.

"...never mind. Are you dropping off your bag at your place?"

Roxas shook his head. "Nah, I can do homework while we wait."

He was right to get to the game store early. Other diehard fans were already waiting inside. Riku might think they were crazy, but for Call of Duty, it was worth it. Roxas proceeded to plop down in the middle of the floor and do his homework, occasionally pulling out his phone to text Axel, nerding out about Black Ops with him.

Riku raised his eyebrows at Roxas but made no comment.

* * *

By midnight, the store was packed, which was surprising, considering how small Sunset Terrace was. Then again, the store itself was pretty quaint, too.

Riku finally appreciated the fact that Roxas had dragged him here early; now they had a place near the front of the line. He glanced at Roxas, who was gazing intently at his phone—waiting for the time to change to 12:00 A.M., no doubt.

There was a collective cheer when the minute changed, and a mad rush to purchase the game. Roxas got his almost immediately.

"You're not getting one?" Roxas asked, clutching the box to his chest like it was his lifeline.

Riku shook his head.

Roxas looked surprised. "Then why'd you wait here this whole time?"

Shrugging, he replied, "'Cause you wanted to?"

"Huh. Thanks for coming with me, then. Can we play it?" Roxas seemed too busy being excited over his new game to wonder about Riku waiting for hours in a store for the midnight release of a game he didn't even want.

Riku smirked, amused. "Why not?"

"Yes!" cheered Roxas, skipping a little as they exited the store. "I worked hard to be able to afford this, you know," he informed Riku, waving the game in his hand at 'this.'

"Really."

"Yup!" Roxas grinned gleefully.

Smiling a little despite himself, Riku led the way to his house. A few rounds of Call of Duty at midnight on a school day never hurt anyone, right?

They played until four in the morning.

At least, Riku was pretty sure it was four. He wasn't positive, though, because when you played video games you didn't really look at the clock too often. He'd been lying stretched out on the couch with his head on the armrest (as it was a long couch, Roxas was sitting at the other end, by his feet, as they played), so in the end he had just sort of slipped into sleep.

Riku's internal alarm clock woke him up at six, despite his body's furious protests. Or maybe it was the sound of Call of Duty, still coming from the television, that pulled him from his slumber. Feeling disoriented, he wondered first why he was on the couch, then why there was a weight on him. Blinking his eyes open blearily, Riku took in a mass of spiky blonde hair.

Oh, right. Roxas never left last night, did he? The blonde was still clutching his controller in one hand, which meant he probably didn't even realize he had even fallen asleep—on Riku.

Quite frankly, Riku was too tired right now to care that Roxas had fallen asleep on him. But he still needed to get up. It was a school day, after all.

"Hey, wake up," Riku said.

Roxas whined a bit and pulled the controller closer to him. "Just one more round."

"Roxas," Riku said sharply. "_Wake up_."

Stirring, Roxas grumbled, "What? What do you want?"

"For you to get off of me, idiot."

Roxas shot up, falling off the couch with a startled yelp. "Sorry!"

Sighing, Riku sat up and rubbed his stiff neck. Sleeping on the couch definitely wasn't good for the neck and back.

"Oh crap, oh crap, what time is it?" Roxas asked, reaching for his phone.

"Six. In the morning."

"Oh crap, oh crap, we're gonna be late for school!"

Riku groaned. Roxas was like Sora in that they both seemed to be able to find an impossible amount of energy early in the morning. That wasn't necessarily a good thing. "No, we won't. Calm down."

"But—Market Street—"

"Roxas. I go to the same school. I get up at six every morning. I've never been late before. I won't be late today. You won't be late. Calm down."

"Right. Okay. Sorry." He didn't need to say what for.

"Just don't let Sora know," sighed Riku.

"Oh, God—he'll see me on the train," Roxas moaned.

Oh, geez. Who knew what assumptions Sora would make? Especially after yesterday. "It'll be okay," he said, trying to convince himself as much as Roxas. "Just don't act suspicious."

"He'll still jump to conclusions."

"Don't worry about it." Riku stood and stretched before heading for the bathroom. "Wait in the kitchen."

When he returned, he saw that Roxas had raided his cupboards and had made two cups of coffee.

"I am so freaking tired," grumbled Roxas, handing Riku a mug.

"It's not my fault we played for God knows how long," muttered Riku after taking an appreciative drink.

"It's fun, though. You have to admit that it's fun."

"Yeah. _Sure_." RPGs were still better than first-person shooters, but Riku didn't feel like inciting an argument so early in the morning, despite the sarcasm that was clear in his tone.

"And I totally won," Roxas continued.

"Excuse me? _I_ won the last match."

"You _fell asleep_ during the last match," Roxas accused.

"That one doesn't count," Riku huffed.

"It so does." Roxas drained the rest of his mug, then asked, "When do you usually leave the house?"

"Six thirty."

Roxas glanced at the clock, then ambled back to the living room, flopping down on the couch. "Wake me up in twenty minutes."

* * *

It seemed like Riku was shaking him awake just minutes after he'd curled up on the couch. He sat up tiredly, rubbing his eyes.

"Hurry _up_, Roxas. I'm not going to be late because of you."

"Right, I'm coming, I'm coming," he yawned, pulling on his jacket and grabbing his backpack. He ushered Riku out the door, combing his fingers through his hair as they hurried towards the train station.

Call of Duty: Black Ops sat conveniently forgotten in Riku's Xbox 360.

_Roxas, you are such a friggin' genius, you should get a medal for geniusness. And geniusness is a word starting now._

* * *

"What? Roxas stayed over at your house last night?"

Sora and Kairi's ability to speak in perfect unison both amazed and scared Roxas.

"We were playing Call of Duty," he tried to explain. "It came out at midnight and we wanted to play it."

Sora exchanged a glance with his girlfriend.

"Roxas, are you sure you're not making excuses?" Kairi asked.

"Positive!" Roxas affirmed.

"You don't have to pretend, you know," sighed Kairi. "We're your friends now."

"What?"

"We already know."

"Know...know what?" Roxas asked worriedly. Did they realize his plan? "I don't..."

"We know you're madly in love with Riku," Kairi continued.

The words took a minute to sink in. Roxas just stared blankly at first, then said, "WHAT?"

"Sora told me," she explained.

"Wait...wait...WHAT?"

"No, no, _Riku_ is madly in love with Roxas. Get it right, Kairi!" Sora slung his arm over Roxas's shoulders. "But I know you like Riku, too. And that's fine, because we're here to support you! You two don't have to hide it anymore."

"But I don't—I don't like him! And he doesn't like me! Riku, tell them!"

"Roxas is right," Riku said, but he didn't sound very convincing—probably because he was being distracted by his PSP.

"_Right_." Kairi looked amused. "You're in denial."

"Am not!" Roxas snapped. He glanced out the window as he felt the train slow down. "Oh, look, we're here. I need to talk to Riku alone for a minute, 'kay, thanks." He pulled Riku out of the train and dragged him out of Sora and Kairi's hearing range. "Will you stop playing your game and pay attention?" he asked exasperatedly.

"I'm listening. Do go on."

"_Well_, how do we get Sora and Kairi to stop thinking we like each other?" Roxas asked. "Wait, you don't like me, do you?"

"Don't be silly. I'm not gay," Riku said. "It's just Sora making assumptions. As usual."

"Okay, good. Just checking."

"Anyways, Sora's your cousin. You deal with him."

"Yeah, and he's _your_ best friend, who you've known since, what, kindergarten?"

"Preschool."

"_Exactly_. I've only known him since he moved here. And most of that time was spent not talking to each other because I wouldn't give him free ice cream."

"That's nice to know."

"Riku! Don't you care about this at all?" Roxas demanded, throwing up his hands in frustration.

"Not really," Riku admitted. "This is Sora we're talking about. He'll drop it soon."

"He won't. Not something like this."

"The more you deny it, the more he'll think you're lying. It's annoying, but it's the truth. So just ignore it. Don't confirm or deny anything. He'll get over it. Trust me."

Something about Riku's tone told Roxas he was speaking from experience. Roxas frowned thoughtfully, tugging Riku to the side before he crashed into a lamppost (Honestly, how do you play while walking without crashing into something?). Maybe this had happened to him before.

"Will that really work?" he asked.

"Probably," Riku answered.

"Okay. Don't confirm or deny anything, and he'll forget about it soon, right?" Roxas checked.

"Yep."

Roxas nodded to himself slowly. This could work. It might be a little annoying at first, but he'd learn to deal with it, and soon it would all be over. Right?

"Just a warning, though," Riku added, "Sora and Kairi love interfering when they think I'm, quote, unquote, 'finally in a relationship.' So, sorry in advance if they set us up on a date or something."

"...what."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Short chapter, bloop. I guess one or two chapters left. Maybe.

**Warnings:** Do you see guys kissing? I see guys kissing.

* * *

_**Chapter Eight – Friday**_

Roxas dropped his head against the tabletop. The tabletop belonged to the single table in a fancy restaurant's VIP room. A room that Roxas had, much to his displeasure, been forced into. "FML."

"I'm sorry you find my company so unpleasant." Riku sounded amused. Then again, he _always_ sounded amused lately. This whole thing was like a freaking _game_ to him. Like one of his stupid RPGs. Roxas supposed Riku wasn't annoyed because the latter was used to Sora and Kairi's antics by now. Roxas didn't think he could ever grow accustomed to them, though.

"Whyyy is my cousin such a pain?" Roxas muttered into the tablecloth. This certainly wasn't how he had hoped to spend his Friday evening. Feeling a surge of irritation, he added, crossly, "And why are you _always_ playing your _stupid_ RPGs?"

"Want me to stop?"

Roxas lifted his head from the table and glared. "Yes."

Riku shrugged and clicked his game off. "So."

"Sooo..."

"If you don't have anything to talk about," said Riku after a few minutes, "I'm going to turn on my game again."

"Oh, don't rub it in, " griped Roxas. "Just 'cause you have your PSP doesn't mean _I_ have something to do."

"Maybe you should try RPGs instead of just playing FPS's all the time," Riku suggested.

"Haha, _no_." He glanced around the VIP room—reserved specially by Sora and Kairi, just for them, _ugh_—and said, "Maybe we can sneak out of here."

"No chance. Sora and Kairi are probably spying on us even as we speak."

"They're _what_?"

"You heard me."

Roxas felt an overwhelming desire to bash his head against the table repeatedly, but he was quite fond of his brain cells and refrained from performing the action. "Your friends suck."

"Remember, he's your cousin."

"Screw you, Riku."

Smirking, Riku replied, "You only wish."

Roxas flushed. "Riku!"

"Sorry."

Roxas's forehead met the table again. Who cared about a couple brain cells? "Fmlfmlfml."

"Quit whining and order something. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can get out of here," Riku pointed out.

"Right, okay." Roxas took his menu, skimming over it and picking out the cheapest foods, which still cost quite a bit. He fingered his wallet in his pocket. There went the rest of his savings.

It was by far the longest dinner of Roxas's life. Scratch that, the one where his mom shared countless embarrassing stories about him with Axel was the longest. This was the second longest, then. He and Riku made idle conversation as they ate, but they often lapsed into silence that would last for a few uncomfortable minutes.

"Are...Sora and Kairi really stalking us?" Roxas asked. Scarily enough, he found it pretty easy to believe. But he really didn't want to believe that his cousin and his girlfriend were watching them _right now_. That was just creepy.

"I'm sure they are," Riku replied. "Maybe they can't hear us, but wherever they are, they can certainly see us."

"The heck is wrong with them? Can't they butt out of our lives?" Roxas complained.

Riku shrugged. "They don't know how to respect people's privacy. It's always been a problem with them."

"Urghhh." Roxas took an annoyed sip from his glass of soda and stabbed his fork into his food.

"By the way," said Riku after another one of their lapses, "you left CoD at my house. I've been meaning to tell you, but—"

"Oh, _crap_! I was supposed to go to Axel's today to play Black Ops!" He checked his phone, which he'd put on silent. There was one missed call and a text, both from Axel.

_Where are you? Never thought you'd miss CoD._

He quickly typed a response and sent it. _Sorry, my cousin set me up on a date with Riku._

_Oh, really. You guys are together now?_ came the almost immediate reply.

_WHAT. NO._

_Hey, Rox, you know I won't judge if you're gay. And if anyone tries to tell you that gay marriage is illegal in Twilight Town, tell them to take it up with Larxene._

"Why does everyone think I'm in denial?" Roxas demanded. "This is so stupid! I'm going home." He stood up to leave.

"Wait, Roxas," said Riku. "At least finish eating."

"Why?" asked Roxas impatiently. "Maybe if they think we've broken up, they'll stop bothering us."

Riku shook his head. "They'd just try and get us to make up and get together again. Now, sit down. It's just one dinner."

Roxas reluctantly obliged, sinking back down into his chair. He was going to kill Sora later.

To his surprise, when the check came, Riku offered to pay for both their meals.

"No way!" Roxas protested. "That would make me the _girl_ in the relationship."

"We're not even _in_ a relationship," Riku said, raising an eyebrow.

"True. But that's all the more reason I should pay for my half."

"If you so insist," said Riku. "I just assumed, by the way you keep staring mournfully at your wallet, that you're saving up for something and fancy, expensive restaurants aren't exactly part of your budget."

"Shut up," grumbled Roxas. "You can pay if you want, I guess," he added stiffly.

"That's what I thought."

The waiter left, and Riku and Roxas stood to leave as well. They were, however, stopped from leaving the VIP room by an annoyed-looking Sora. Kairi stood behind him, looking faintly amused.

"That's _it_?" Sora asked. "I go through the trouble of paying for a VIP room to give you some privacy, and you just sit there and _talk_ the whole time? Not even any hand-holding?"

"Where did you come from?" Roxas asked, surprised by their sudden appearance despite Riku's warnings.

"Table over there," Sora answered briefly, waving his hand. "I couldn't hear you, but seriously, make some more effort!" He grinned. "How about a kiss goodnight or something?"

"What? But we're not—" Roxas broke off. Don't confirm or deny anything. That was a lot harder to do than he thought. "I mean, we..."

"Come on, you can't deny it anymore," scoffed Sora. "Stop being shy already. Here, I'll help." And he shoved Roxas forward, hard.

"Wha—" That was Riku.

Roxas, meanwhile, was thinking, _Oh shi—_

The next thing he knew, they were both on the floor, Roxas on top of Riku, the former's mind screaming at him to pull away, screaming at him that_ oh, God, you're freaking kissing Riku, what the freak is wrong with you, Sora, I am going to freaking MURDER you_.

But he didn't pull away. He hadn't expected kissing Riku to feel so _good_. He'd reacted instinctively without realizing it—or maybe that had been Riku who'd acted upon the contact. Either way, it certainly did feel good, and he brushed his tongue lightly across Riku's lip before boldly pushing it into his conveniently open mouth. The kiss wasn't warm, soft, and loving like he thought kisses were supposed to feel (it wasn't as if he'd ever kissed anyone before, so he wouldn't know from experience), but hot, wet, and hungry for more.

Riku's fingers curled around Roxas's shirt, tugging him lightly, and he needed no further invitation to lean closer down, planting his knees on either side of Riku. He wasn't quite sure why he was trying to simultaneously eat Riku's mouth and shove his tongue down the other's throat, but a part of his brain told him it wasn't important just now, so he shrugged it off.

After the other part of his brain finally caught up with the situation, he jerked away, mind reeling. He stared at Riku, the latter looking dazed, flushed, and slightly out of breath. Roxas felt his own face heating up as he hastily scrambled to his feet, backing away several paces.

"S-sorry," he blurted out before promptly turning and fleeing the scene.

As he made his escape, Roxas absently noticed that Sora and Kairi had left. They had probably deemed their mission successful and cleared out.

Screw them. This was all their fault.

Roxas proceeded to go home, shut himself in his room, and curse Sora whilst questioning his sexuality.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** Slightly longer chapter than usual. Or, at least, longer than they have been recently. And after this, we've only got the epilogue left. That'll be rather short, though. P:

* * *

_**Chapter Nine - Tuesday**_

It might be hard for some people to avoid the best friend of their cousin, especially if they went to the same school, but Roxas felt he did a good job in avoiding Riku. And Sora, too, actually. He walked straight to his classes during passing period instead of lagging around. During lunch he would either keep to himself in the library or hang out with Xion instead. After school, he either went to his house, to Axel's house, or to the sea salt ice cream shop for work.

In a few weeks, the accidental kiss was just a thing of the past.

Or, he wished it would be. Unfortunately, Sora refused to let him forget the incident by calling his phone at least three times a day and texting him at least twice as much. Even Riku had called him once. Roxas ignored them all.

And those two weren't the only ones not letting him forget. Xion was worried that something was wrong, and asked him frequently what the problem was.

"You've been hanging out with me a lot recently," she commented one day. "Is something wrong?"

Roxas stared at her blankly. "You're my friend. Why wouldn't I hang out with you?" he asked evasively.

"Because," sighed Xion, "you only hang out with me when you want to avoid someone else."

Roxas winced. Luckily, Xion didn't seem to mind being Roxas's last resort friend. Regardless, Roxas had informed her that no, nothing was wrong, he was perfectly fine, thank you very much.

She didn't buy it.

Axel suspected something was wrong as well. However, unlike Xion, he'd only asked once and left the subject alone after Roxas told him it didn't matter. He, at least, respected Roxas's privacy. That, or he just didn't care. Roxas preferred to think it was the former.

Roxas huffed out an exasperated puff of breath through his mouth as he doodled on his notes instead of doing his homework. Life sucked. And he was bored.

It was another quiet day at the ice cream shop. Demyx had come for a bit and had bought a whole bunch of ice creams. Before he left, he said that they were playing Black Ops at Axel's place. Roxas assumed that 'they' meant Xion and Xigbar, possibly even Larxene. He was impatient for his shift to end so he could go join them.

He was considering asking Scrooge McDuck if he could leave early today—his shift was going to end soon and no one was coming anyways—when the bell jangled, signaling the door being opened.

Roxas looked up. "Hello. Welcome to—oh."

"Oh?" echoed Riku.

Maintaing a carefully neutral face, Roxas said, "What brings you here? I thought you didn't like sea salt."

"You've been avoiding us."

Cutting right to the chase. Roxas bit back a sigh.

"Says who?" he asked.

"Says the seventy three missed calls from Sora, and about one hundred and forty texts from him."

"Oh. My phone's been on silent. I guess I forgot to check it," lied Roxas, shrugging.

"For two and a half weeks?" asked Riku.

"Maybe." Roxas couldn't meet Riku's gaze.

Riku sat down on the stool across from Roxas. "Look, I'm sorry about Sora."

"Don't be. He's my cousin, remember?" Roxas still refused to look at Riku as he handed him a popsicle, taking a second one from the freezer for himself.

Riku licked at his ice cream. "Still salty."

"But _sweet_. I don't know how you don't like it," grumbled Roxas. He took a large bite from his popsicle. "It's awesome."

Riku shook his head, but took a little bite from his anyways. "Sora's really worried about you, you know," he said. "He thinks we got into a fight."

"Haven't you told him the truth yet?" Roxas asked.

"He wouldn't believe me because you weren't there," Riku explained, rolling his eyes. "He thinks I'm trying to get out of apologizing to you."

Roxas shifted guiltily. He hadn't meant to cause trouble for Riku. Knowing Sora, he'd probably be upset with Riku until they'd 'made up,' especially if he assumed it was Riku's fault.

"Tell him you said sorry, and I said okay. Problem solved," he suggested.

"That's not going to work and you know it."

Roxas avoided answering by taking another bite from his ice cream.

"Are you really that much of a coward, Roxas?"

He paused for a long time before answering. Finally, he asked, sullenly, "So what if I am? What if I am a coward?"

"Then...I'm never giving you Black Ops back."

Roxas jerked his head up to stare at Riku, horrified. "But it's mine! I paid for it!" he cried, panic rising in his chest. "You can't take it!"

"Too bad. It's still at my house, in my Xbox. And I won't give it back until we get out of this mess."

Roxas cursed under his breath and tossed his popsicle stick into the trash bin. "Fine."

"So, you never really did like me?" Riku asked.

"No. What makes you think that?"

"Well, you did stalk me for three weeks," Riku pointed out.

"I was not _stalking_ you!" Roxas protested.

"Well, it sure seemed like it. Anyways, why exactly have you been avoiding us? I'm not mad at you for kissing me. It was Sora's fault, after all."

"Well, _I'm_ mad at you!" Roxas declared.

"Really?" Riku didn't sound as concerned as he should have been; his eyes seemed almost mirthful. "You did seem awfully _eager_ to—"

"Because," Roxas interrupted loudly, "I'm not gay—at least, I don't think I am—and I was kind of hoping my first kiss wouldn't be with another _guy_. And you know what, you're not gay either, so why were you letting me..."

Riku ignored the last part of his statement. "That was your first kiss?"

Why did he have to sound so _amused_?

"Shut up," Roxas muttered. "And answer the question."

"Did I say I wasn't gay?" asked Riku innocently. "Technically I'm not, since I'm bisexual."

Roxas stared at him incredulously. "You're bi?"

"That's what I said," Riku affirmed. "Stop gaping. I'm still a human."

Roxas snapped his jaw shut as he tried to figure out what to say.

"Roxas, are you still here?" called Scrooge McDuck from the back of the store. "Your shift is over. Run along and play."

"Right, going!" said Roxas, hopping over the counter.

Riku reached for his wallet. "How much for the ice cream?"

Roxas waved it aside. "That one was on me." As he led the way out of the shop, he asked, "Do we really have to settle this today? 'Cause I was hoping to go to Axel's to play Black Ops."

"Well, the sooner we resolve this, the better," Riku said.

"Well, I'm sure it can wait till tomorrow," he argued. "I mean, I'll see you guys at school anyways."

"I guess. You're not planning on ditching, are you?"

"Of course not. Not while you have my game." Roxas turned in the direction of Axel's house. "See you tomorrow, then?"

"Wait, I have to ask," said Riku. "_Are_ you gay? Or just bi-curious?"

Roxas turned to look at him crossly. "I don't even kn—"

He broke off as Riku grabbed him by the arms and kissed him. Roxas staggered back in shock.

"What the _heck_, Riku?" he spluttered.

"Just something I've been wanting to do," explained Riku with a smirk. "But you'd been kind of avoiding me. See you tomorrow, Roxas."

And then he left.

Roxas stared after him, jaw slack, then blushed as he realized belatedly that Riku had kissed him. And then just walked away. That guy had serious problems.

Roxas wheeled around and stomped off to Axel's house in a huff.

He didn't bother knocking on the door when he arrived; the yelling was so loud he could hear it from outside, and they probably wouldn't hear him. Not to mention the music blasting at an unhealthily loud volume; really, Roxas was surprised the neighbors weren't complaining.

So, no knocking. Instead, he grabbed the spare key from under the welcome mat and let himself in.

Even before he reached the living room, he was forced to clap his hands to his ears. The music was deafening. "Hey, guys!" he yelled, his voice sounding muffled to his ears. "I'm here!"

The yelling ceased for a moment, then came back in full force as the others yelled their heartfelt greetings before promptly returning their attention to the small TV screen in front of them. Roxas wondered if they were drunk, but he couldn't smell any alcohol, just sea salt ice cream. He concluded that they must simply be on a Call of Duty high.

Roxas made his way over to the stereo and shut the infernal thing off.

"Aww, that was my newest hit," complained Demyx, looking over to him.

"Next time, write a song that _doesn't_ make ears bleed," Roxas suggested scathingly. "By the way, Xigbar is about to snipe you."

"Hey, hey, no screen-watching!" said Xigbar.

"That's right. Don't help the loser out," snarled Larxene.

It was too late for Demyx anyways. He was already dead by the time he looked back to the screen.

The match ended with Xigbar winning, unsurprisingly, and Axel set down his controller and turned to Roxas.

"I've got something for you, _Rox-as_," he sang out.

"It's not my birthday. Should I be worried?"

"Pssh, of course not." Axel disappeared into another room, then returned, holding something behind his back. "Ta-daaah!"

Roxas stared at the proffered item, eyes wide. It was a skateboard, and Roxas could tell Axel must have spent a lot of money on it.

Hesitantly he took it, turning it over in his hands. He looked at Axel again, grinning. "It's great, but...there's something missing."

"What? Are you telling me I was cheated?" Axel demanded. "'Cause I paid a lot for that!"

"No, no, it's not that." Roxas pushed the skateboard back at Axel. "Burn my name into it, like my other one!"

Axel stared at him. "This is a ridiculously expensive, limited edition skateboard and you want me to _burn your name into it_?"

"That's right!"

He grinned. "Let's do this."

The group marched into the kitchen, everyone crowding around the table as Axel set to work on the skateboard. Soon, "ROXAS" was burned into the top in a messy scrawl, and everyone cheered as the _S_ was completed.

Well, everyone except for Larxene, who rolled her eyes and muttered, "_Boys_."

Roxas stared at his new skateboard in awe. "This is so awesome! Thanks!"

"Well, it was my fault the other one broke in the first place, so..." Axel grinned sheepishly at him. "I guess this is my apology."

"I already forgave you for that," Roxas replied, even though he'd been intent on murdering Axel when his broken skateboard had finally been returned to him.

Neither Axel nor Roxas were particularly good at the whole apology-forgiveness-thanks-you're-welcome thing, so, after a few seconds of silence, the simultaneously yelled, "BLACK OPS!" and the CoD-fest resumed.

Just for the record, Axel failed to make Roxas's CoD soul weep.

* * *

It felt great to ride a skateboard to school again, and Roxas took several detours on the way just so he could ride more. Though he missed his old board, he quickly grew accustomed to his new one, and was soon doing tricks and jumping off rails with it.

He skated around the school campus until he saw Sora, Riku, and Kairi, then circled them once before coming to a halt. "Look, guys, I got a new skateboard!"

"Ooh, it looks cool!" said Sora.

"It _is_ cool," replied Roxas. "Cooler than cool. It's freakin' awesome, that's what it is."

"It does look nice," Kairi agreed.

Roxas rolled his eyes. It was _freakin' awesome_, not just 'cool' or 'nice.' He figured repeating the fact would just be a waste of breath. "Yeah, so, there's been a misunderstanding. Riku and I didn't get into an argument."

"Huh?" Sora looked confused. "But Riku said you two made up yesterday."

Roxas glared at Riku. "We were never fighting in the first place. Actually, that's not the only misunderstanding, Sora. We were never 'together' in the first place. We don't like each other like _that_."

"Yeah," chimed in Riku. "You've just been assuming things from the start."

Kairi looked at Sora exasperatedly. "See, I told you not to jump to conclusions."

"But I'm not!" Sora protested. "Besides, Riku told me the other day that he _does_ like Roxas _that way_."

"_SORA_," said Riku loudly.

Roxas stared at Riku, who turned away, scowling. "He _what?_"

"Yeah! He said so a few days ago," Sora confirmed. "After I asked him if he knew why you've been avoiding us."

"But—I—he," stuttered Roxas.

"Sora," said Kairi warningly, but Sora swept on without listening.

"He said that you didn't really like him—which I didn't believe, just so you know—but that _he_ liked _you_."

"Sora, that's enough," said Riku. "He didn't need to know that."

Roxas felt like the biggest, most oblivious, inconsiderate jerk in the world. How long had Riku liked him? He really should have seen it sooner. Especially after he admitted to being bisexual and kissed him yesterday. Now that he thought about it, it was painfully obvious.

He stood there awkwardly for a minute, not sure what to say. Then the first bell rang, and he hastily excused himself, turned tail, and ran.

Running away. Like a coward. Again.

But now he felt guilty all first period, and, instead of going straight to his second period afterwards, he cut across the campus towards Riku's.

"Riku!" he called when he spotted him.

Riku faltered but didn't stop walking. Roxas called again and he stopped, turning to face him.

"Look, I'm...I'm sorry, okay?" Roxas said. "I—"

Riku cut him off. "Save it. This isn't really the thing to discuss during passing period."

"Er, okay. When—" He broke off as Riku stalked past him without another word. "...'Kay, then. I'll see you later?"

He walked towards his next class, frowning thoughtfully. It'd probably be best to just wait until lunch or something. But he was hoping he'd be able to talk to Riku alone, not with Sora and Kairi listening in on their every word.

Roxas found Riku at his usual lunch spot, alone. He wondered where Sora and Kairi were, but didn't dwell on it too long—just long enough to think that he really must be lucky, or that some higher power must be feeling sympathetic. Picking up his skateboard and trotting across the grass, he called, "Riku!"

Riku sighed and set his lunch down. "Might as well get this over with while Sora's not around."

"Where are they, by the way?"

"Sora and Kairi are staying after class for some extra credit thing," he explained.

"Oh." Roxas chewed his bottom lip nervously. "Well, about...you know," he couldn't bring himself to say it out loud, "I'm sorry. I didn't realize that you..."

"You must be pretty emotionally dense," Riku commented dryly.

"I guess I am," muttered Roxas, sinking down into the grass beside Riku. "I'm an idiot."

"No, you're not. Obviously you don't like me back, so you didn't realize it." Riku shrugged. "It's fine."

"But it was so freaking _obvious_," stressed Roxas. "This whole time I've been freaking out about Sora and the stupid misunderstanding that I never even stopped to consider how _you_ felt."

"Can't help it if you're not gay. You might have realized if I was a girl," Riku pointed out with a slight smirk.

"But I think I might be," Roxas choked on the word and tried to force it out, "_gay_."

"Stop acting like it's a bad thing," said Riku, raising his eyebrows. "You're going to offend someone."

"Someone like you?"

"Eh, I'm used to it. But just so you know, homosexuals and bisexuals generally don't appreciate being treated like freaks of nature."

Roxas hoped against all hope that he hadn't been treating Riku like a freak of nature recently.

"What makes you think you're gay?" asked Riku.

Roxas blinked at him. "Well, when we kissed, um..." He averted his gaze uneasily. "I kinda liked it."

"Was that night _really_ your first kiss?"

"Yes, _shut up_," growled Roxas. "Anyways, what I'm trying to say is, I think I like you. Or I could grow to like you. If...if you gave me the chance."

"That was one kiss, you realize."

"Technically," said Roxas, "two. If you count yesterday."

"Fine, two," agreed Riku. "But if that _was_ your first kiss—" God, Riku was never going to let that drop, would he? "—who says it's _me_ you like? Maybe you just like kissing. Maybe you're a—"

"You're not taking this seriously, are you?" asked Roxas crossly. "Besides, maybe I'm one of those people who think my first kiss should be with the one I want to spend the rest of my life with."

"Well, then, are you?"

"Could be." Roxas shrugged. "Never really thought about it, actually." He glanced sideways at Riku, a smirk playing on his lips. "Or maybe it's the third kiss. Third time's the charm, you know."

"Was that your attempt at being subtle?" Riku questioned.

Before Roxas could reply, Riku leaned over and kissed him.

Now that they weren't being forced together and now that he had (sort of) accepted his sexual preference, Roxas realized that Riku was a good kisser. A really good kisser. It was all Roxas could do to keep from simply melting beneath his lips. But that seemed like a girly thing to do, so he defiantly refused to do so.

_Well, in my defense,_ thought Roxas stubbornly,_ he's had more experience than me in kissing._

"A-hah! I _told_ you they were lying, Kairi!"

They broke apart faster than you could say 'CoD.'

"Sora?" Roxas cried (He would later argue that _no,_ his voice did not _squeak_, thank you very much!), spotting his cousin.

"I knew it, I _knew_ it! You guys were lying!" Sora accused, stomping up to them. "I can't believe you two! And after how supportive I've been, too!"

"I think you may have been a little _too_ supportive, Sora," Kairi put in mildly.

"Hey, homosexuals get a lot of hate. I just wanted to let them know that it's A-OKAY TO BE GAY!"

Riku slapped his palm to his forehead. Roxas banged his head against the tree.

"Is everything okay with you two now?" Kairi asked them while Sora babbled on about homosexuality being perfectly fine (or something like that).

Roxas glanced at Riku. "Yeah. We worked everything out."

"That's good."

"Yeah—wait." Roxas frowned as a thought occurred to him. There was one more problem needing to be resolved. He turned to Riku. "You're giving me Black Ops back now, right?"

Riku rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. "Yes, Roxas, you'll get Black Ops back."

Now Roxas smiled back. "Good."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** So it ended up being longer than I thought it would. But that just works in your favor, now doesn't it? But, anyways, WOW THAT WAS A LONG CHRISTMAS GIFT, BUT IT'S FINALLY DONE. I HOPE YOU LIKED IT, LUNAR! :D

As for everyone else, many thanks for reading! I'm surprised it got as many faves/alerts as it did. Thank you, readers. You guys are awesome. :)

* * *

_**Chapter 10 – Epilogue – Saturday**_

"Black Ops, I want to play Black Ops."

"We've _been_ playing Black Ops. All day."

"Yeah, but it's fun, c'mon, Riku..."

Riku shook his head. "Nope, I have a better idea." He scrolled through the Xbox menu. "You're playing Limbo."

Roxas blinked. "What's Limbo?"

"Puzzle platform game."

"...oh."

"You'll see. Here." Riku started the game and handed Roxas the controller. Then he went to pull the blinds shut and flick the lights off.

"Riku?" Roxas asked nervously.

"Just play it," Riku said, sitting back on the couch beside Roxas and raising the volume on the television.

"Um, okay." Roxas moved his character forward cautiously. "...Oh, crap, I just died."

Riku coughed. "Bear trap."

"Jump over it, right," muttered Roxas, trying again and succeeding in avoiding the trap this time.

"Oh, good job," remarked Riku, pumping the volume up higher.

"Stop doing that, you're making me nervous," snapped Roxas as he jumped over a body of water.

"Don't worry, it's all ambient sound," Riku told him.

"Still, can we turn the light back on, at least?"

"What are you, chicken? Keep playing," ordered Riku.

"Did _you_ play like this?"

"Well, no."

"Exactly," said Roxas. "Besides, you already know what's coming. It's not fair to me."

"Want me to hold your hand?"

"Don't patronize me, you jerk. That's an insult to my manliness. And I need both hands to play—OH GOD, WHAT THE HELL IS THAT."

"It's no fun if I tell you—ouch." Riku winced as the Limbo character was impaled and died.

"How do I—oh. _Oh_," Roxas said as a bear trap fell from the tree. "I got this. I _got_ this." He pushed the trap towards the stabbing leg. "I am so good at this game. I must be a _prodigy_."

Hours later, Roxas whined, "I don't like this game. Can we stop?"

"Nothing super-scary even actually happens," Riku said.

"Yeah, but the game just gives off this...eerie vibe. I don't like it. Let's play CoD."

"Don't be a wuss and finish the game, Roxas."

"I had to jump on a corpse to cross a body of water and push another one to activate a trap. There is something _wrong_ with this game."

"I want you to see the ending, though," said Riku.

"It'll take too long. You do it." Roxas shoved the controller at him.

"But it's not the same thrill as doing it yourself," Riku argued, pushing it back. "Just finish it. I'll help you if you get stuck."

"Fine. Geez."

Many, many deaths and puzzles and screams (of annoyance and maybe one or two of fear) later...

"WHAT? WHAT THE HELL—ALL OF THAT—ALL THOSE HOURS AND—WHAT THE—!"

Riku snickered. "Fun, right?"

"No. What the heck, Riku." Roxas glared at him. "That was STUPID. WHAT HAPPENED?"

"That's up to the gamer's interpretation," said Riku, nodding wisely.

"Rgh. CoD. _Now_."

"Nope. Have you looked at the time, Roxas?" Riku asked. "I'm going to bed."

"It's not that late..."

"It's past midnight. I don't know what constitutes as late for you, but I would like to get some sleep," said Riku.

"Fine," huffed Roxas. "But can we play CoD tomorrow? Er, later today, if you want to get technical."

"Fine." Riku exaggeratedly rolled his eyes, but Roxas ignored it.

Riku stood and started for his bedroom, pausing before he exited the living room to look back at Roxas. "Do you want a blanket or something?"

Roxas, who had immediately curled up on the couch, pulled his jacket over his head. "No."

Riku shook his head exasperatedly. "Okay, then."

* * *

"Riku. Riku. Riku!"

Riku stirred but didn't open his eyes. What time was it? It didn't feel like time to get up—he was pretty sure it was Sunday, and Sunday was a weekend. He slept in on weekends. So who the heck was trying to wake him up?

"Riiiiikuuuuu!"

Reluctantly he opened his eyes and found himself looking at Roxas. Roxas, who was leaning very close to his face and staring at him with wide blue eyes. If Riku's body functioned properly in the morning, he probably would have been startled and jumped, resulting in a very painful collision of foreheads. Luckily, he wasn't much of a morning person, so instead, he just stared blankly at the other and said, "What the hell."

"Let's play CoD!"

"What is wrong with you?" Riku asked. "What time is it?"

"Four thirty."

Silence.

Finally, Riku said, "Go back to bed, Roxas."

"Aw, but—"

"Roxas. Bed. Now."

To Riku's great displeasure, Roxas flopped down right next to him, staring up at the ceiling. "But I'm not tired," he whined.

"Sucks for you," muttered Riku, attempting to pull his blanket further over himself. It wasn't really working out well with Roxas pinning down half the blanket, though. "Normal people need more than four hours of sleep, so leave me alone. And get off my blanket."

Roxas promptly went under the blanket, which further annoyed Riku.

"Roxas, go away."

"But I'm not tired," Roxas repeated. "Let's talk."

Riku flipped over to face the wall. He figured Roxas wouldn't mind; the latter was too busy staring at the ceiling for no apparent reason. And even if he _did_ mind, Riku really didn't care. "About what?" he asked, squeezing his eyes shut again.

"I dunno. Call of Duty."

"God, no."

"Why not?" Roxas asked.

"Because it's stupid."

"Are you upset because I beat you almost every round yesterday?"

"No. It's just stupid," mumbled Riku into his pillow. "You should try out an RPG or something instead."

"But _those_ are stupid," Roxas protested.

"Are not."

"Are too."

"Are not."

"Are _too_!"

"If you can't come up with anything more interesting to talk about, I'm going back to sleep," Riku warned.

"Um. Uh. Uhh. Ice cream. Sea salt ice cream," said Roxas, "tastes very good. Yes, indeed."

"No, it does not."

"Yes, it does. It's so great. How could you _not_ like it?"

"Hm, guess it's an acquired taste."

"Well, guess you'll just have to keep eating it until you like it."

"No. That's stupid."

"You're stupid."

"You're in my house," Riku reminded Roxas. "Now get out, _stupid_."

"No, wait, I take it back!" cried Roxas hastily. "You're not stupid. Just RPGs are. Stupid, that is."

"Mmhm. Sure."

"You know, I'm not so sure this relationship is gonna work out," Roxas remarked.

Riku almost chuckled. "And why not?"

"Because we don't really have any common ground. And I'm pretty sure whoever said that arguing is a healthy part of a relationship must have been on something."

Riku rolled over to face Roxas. "I'm sure there's something," he said reasonably. "If you'd just stop being CoD-obsessed for just a little bit..."

"But I _like_ CoD."

"More than me?"

"Yes. I have been in love with CoD since I was six," Roxas replied, nodding firmly.

Riku raised an eyebrow. "Wow, who corrupted _your_ childhood?"

"Axel did, actually."

"That policeman?" Riku mused. "Interesting."

"He used to be a delinquent," Roxas said.

"Somehow, I'm not surprised. Not sure how someone with a delinquency record was able to become a policeman, though."

"Er, I think Xigbar had something to do with it."

"Ah."

After a few seconds of silence, Roxas asked, "Can we play CoD now?"

"God, Roxas, if you love CoD so much why don't you marry it?"

"Would if I could, but I have to settle for you instead."

"Stupid," Riku said, almost affectionately. Almost. But not quite. He wrapped one of his arms around Roxas. "Let me sleep until..." He thought. "Eight. And then we can play."

Roxas sighed and snuggled up against him. "Okay, I guess."

They were quiet for a few minutes. Then, Roxas laughed softly.

"What is it now?" Riku asked.

"Heh, nothing. It's just...it's hard to believe that at first I only wanted to become your friend so I could play CoD on your Xbox."

"...what."

"Uh, I mean—"

Riku turned over, got up from the bed, and padded to the living room.

Roxas chased after him. "Wait! I didn't mean that! Really, I didn't! Riku!"

Riku ignored him and knelt beside his television.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Roxas asked nervously as Riku began unhooking the Xbox 360. "Riku? Riku, stop it."

Silently, Riku gathered up the game console in his arms and started walking towards the backyard.

"Riku, Riku, _no_, Black Ops is still in there, no, you _can't_," protested Roxas, following him. "Please don't—don't tell me you're going to—Riku, I'm _sorry_. ...I love you?" he tried weakly.

Riku stared at the swimming pool for a moment. Then he stretched out his arms and dropped the Xbox. It hit the water with a splash and sunk to the bottom of the pool.

"_NO_!"

"There, there," said Riku, speaking at last as he patted Roxas's head placatingly. "It'll be okay."

"You're a jerk," growled Roxas as Riku went back into the house. "A complete and utter jerk. I hope you know that, Riku."

"Mm. I'm going back to bed," yawned Riku in response.

"I can't believe you just did that."

"I can't believe you're such an idiot," replied Riku without inflection.

"I _am_ sorry for being such an inconsiderate jerk like that, I really am, but it all worked out in the end, didn't it? There was no reason to do that. No reason it all," Roxas continued as he followed Riku to his bedroom.

Riku slid back into his bed, burrowing under the blanket. "Tell me when you've forgiven me. For now, I'd like some sleep. Thanks."

"I am never forgiving you for this," stated Roxas. "Do you hear me Riku? _Never_."

Riku didn't respond.

Roxas sighed. "You're lucky I like you."

"You forgive a lot faster than Sora does."

"I didn't say I forgive you, I said I like you."

"Whatever you say."

"Would it kill you to at least act like you care?" he asked irritably.

Riku couldn't be bothered to respond. There was a lengthy stretch of silence, and Riku thought Roxas might have finally left when he said, "So..."

Even though his eyes were closed, Riku had to resist the urge to roll them. "So. Have you forgiven me yet?"

"Yeah, sure. Fine. _Whatever_."

"Ah, lovebirds."

Roxas jumped. "Sora?"

Sora clambered into the room through the window. "Hi!"

Riku grumbled indistinctly and rolled onto his stomach, burying his head into his pillow. "And how long have you been here?" he asked, not exactly surprised.

"About three seconds."

"Holy heck, you are such a freakin' _creeper_, Sora," Roxas said. "What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to make sure you two hadn't killed each other yet."

Riku lifted his head to look at Sora and smirked. "Have a little faith."

"You never know." Sora shrugged.

"Are you _okay_ with him climbing through your bedroom window?" Roxas demanded.

"He wouldn't stop even if I told him to, so yeah, I guess."

Roxas shook his head in amazement.

"Anyways, you should totally celebrate not killing each other by going on a double date with me and Kairi!" Sora continued enthusiastically.

"Um," started Roxas.

"'Kay, I'll meet you outside!" And Sora bounced out of the bedroom.

"Okay...?" Roxas blinked, then turned to Riku. "Look, um, sorry about...only wanting to be your friend so I could play on your Xbox. Can we...try starting over?"

"Starting over?" asked Riku.

Roxas held his hand out. "Hi. I'm Roxas."

Riku tilted his head, bemused, but shook his hand anyways. "Riku."

There was a pause.

"We..._can_ skip the getting to know each other stuff, right?" Roxas checked.

Riku raised an eyebrow. Even though he felt that that would be defeating the purpose of 'starting over,' he said, "Sure."

"What's taking you guys so long?" came Sora's voice, drifting through the open window.

"Nothing!" called Roxas. "We're coming!" He turned to grin at Riku, lifting his hand again. "Let's go."

Shrugging to himself, Riku took Roxas's offered hand and let himself be led out of the room.

Roxas thought it was funny that at first he'd only wanted to be his friend to play on his Xbox? Well, Riku found it particularly amusing that they only met because Roxas's broken skateboard had caused him to die in his video game.

Normal relationships were overrated anyways.


End file.
